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PREFACE 


Illinois is one of the leading states of the Union. 
In many material ways this state stands near or at 
the top of the lists. Her primal position is secure, 
for location, climate, and natural resources are hers 
for all time. All this should not be the basis for 
boasts, but should be known by her citizens as cold 
facts, which should stimulate them to place Illinois 
in a like position in education and art, in culture 
and refinement. Her citizens should know and be 
proud of her material means, but they should there¬ 
by be moved to dedicate their lives to the end that 
Illinois may be the intellectual and spiritual leader 
in the nation. Not only should her adult citizens 
know these facts, but they should also be a part 
of the school inheritance of her children. The 
pioneers of our prairies, the leaders of our early 
state, the captains of our later industries, our great 
men who have made the history of our state nation 
known—all these shall have lived in vain if Illinois 
stands first only in agriculture, transportation, 
commerce, manufacturing, and mining. Why was 
Illinois given great grants by nature ? Not that 

iii 



iv PREFACE 

alone her men should devote their lives to winning 
a livelihood, but rather that less time may be given 
to making a living and more time to the making of 
life. 

Mr. Will C. Robb, assistant principal of J. Ster¬ 
ling Morton High School, planned to write this 
book. Before he started his writing, he was per¬ 
suaded to allow the author to collaborate. In a 
short time, Mr. Robb turned to another under¬ 
taking and the present writer began and finished 
this book. Mr. Robb is responsible for the genesis 
of the book, but the author must be held for the 
plan, the purpose, the paragraphs, the pictures, 
and the faults. 

So many have aided in putting forth this little 
book that acknowledgments adequate in form and 
degree cannot be made. My oldest son, Phil E. 
Church, made the first drafts of the chapters on 
Climate and Minerals. My elder daughter, Mrs. 
Fred E. Weick, read the manuscript more than 
once. Mrs. Imogene K. Giles made many helpful 
criticisms. I desire especially to thank for their 
careful comments, which are woven into almost 
every page, the following men: Superintendent 
E. C. Fisher, Peoria Public Schools; R. W. Bard- 
well, Rock Island Public Schools; Superintendent 
L. A. Mahoney, Moline Public Schools; County 
Superintendent Charles McIntosh, Monticello, Illi- 


PREFACE 


nois; County Superintendent August Maue, Joliet, 
Illinois; Superintendent W. A. Hough, Belleville 
Public Schools; and Henry L. Fowkes, formerly 
County Superintendent of Christian County. 


H. V. Church. 



Abraham Lincoln 


This is the picture that is said to have made Lincoln President. It 
was taken by Brady when Lincoln was in New York City to deliver the 
Cooper Union address. This likeness was used on badges, campaign 
buttons, and banners in the election of 1860 . 







ILLINOIS 


CHAPTER I 
INTRODUCTION 

WHY STUDY THE RISE OF ILLINOIS? 

Area and Population.—In area Illinois is not a 
large state. In the Union it ranks twenty-third in 
size. In population it is third; some day it will be 
first. It should interest every citizen of the state, 
and students outside, to know the cause of this 
great difference of rank in area and population. 

Location.—Illinois is somewhat centrally located 
in the United States, but it occupies a most fortu¬ 
nate pivotal place in the rich Mississippi Valley. 
Looking from Illinois north, east, south, and west, 
one sees lands rich in soil and mine. Furthermore 
Illinois has water transportation north, east, and 
south; other states in the Mississippi Valley may 
claim a mid location, but none can boast good water 
transit north and south and east. Again Illinois 
is safely in the middle latitudes where seasons 
swing equally warm and cold and where men are 
always alert to tasks that are timely and to visions 
1 


2 


ILLINOIS 


that are not vain. Is there any state in our great 
nation so providentially placed? 

Resources. —Think how long the wealth of Illi¬ 
nois lay locked in the loins of the earth! No one 
knows how many thousands of years savages 
stalked stupidly over the prairies of our rich state. 
But the white man came at last, and now we stand 
at the open door of an expanding era of wealth and 
greatness. We have mined coal and we have a 
hundredfold yet to uncover; we have caught power 
from pur rivers and we have a hundredfold yet to 
harness; we have tilled our fields and we have a 
hundredfold each year to harvest. Our resources 
are almost without limit. Should we not trace 
the trail of Illinois in her rise to the first rank in 
the Union? 

Rapid Growth. —Think again how short a time 
has passed since these lands lay untouched and 
undeveloped! One hundred years have seen 
changes in Illinois that it took one thousand years 
to bring to England, or to France, or to Germany. 
Do you think of people, there are over one hun¬ 
dred fifty times as many in Illinois to-day as a cen¬ 
tury ago. Do you think of factories, there were 
practically none a century ago. Do you think of 
transportation, there were neither railroads, nor 
steamboats, nor trolley cars, nor hard roads a cen¬ 
tury ago. Do you think of communication, there 
was neither daily mail, nor telegraph, nor tele- 


INTRODUCTION 


3 


phone, nor radio a century ago. The speed of 
change can be truly called miracle; miracle upon 
miracle! 

The Task.—Thoughtful boys and girls must soon 
ask where this whirl of the wheel of swift prog¬ 
ress will sweep us. Illinois must have a goal; 
there must be a prize toward which we must press. 
What shall it be? But first, we must know the 
route we have run; we must learn how we have 
reached our present place in the Union. We must 
search our brief past to see what mistakes we have 
made; and then we must right our course and pur¬ 
sue a path that will make Illinois not only among 
the first in population, in agriculture, in manufac¬ 
tures, and in mining, but also first in great men 
and noble women. 


4 


ILLINOIS 


WHAT CONSTITUTES A STATE 1 

Not high-raised battlements or labored mound; 

Thick wall or moated gate; 

Not cities proud with spires and turrets crowned; 

Not bays and broad-armed ports, 

Where laughing at the storm, rich navies ride; 

No: men, high-minded men; 

With souls as far above dull brutes endued 
In forest, brake, or den, 

As beasts excel cold rocks and brambles rude; 

Men who their duties know, 

But know their rights, and knowing, dare maintain. 
####*** 

These constitute a state, 

And sovereign Law, that state’s collected will 
O’er thrones and globes elate, 

Sits empress, crowning good, repressing ill. 

—Sir Wm. Jones. 


CHAPTER II 


DISCOVERY 

Why the French Came to America. —The news that 
Columbus had come upon lands far to the west 
slowly stirred more than one nation to find out 
what these strange coasts were. First Spain, then 
England, and later France sent ships to our shores. 
The Spanish explorers were hungry for gold, but 
they never forgot that they were missionaries too. 
In their zeal to find precious metals, they always 
remembered that they belonged to the Christian 
faith and tried to convert the Indians to their be¬ 
lief. Cortez, the Spaniard who conquered Mexico, 
found gold there, and this discovery moved many 
a Spaniard to explore. He Soto traveled across 
our southern states; and Ponce de Leon was de¬ 
lighted with the flowery 1 peninsula and so called 
it Florida. Soon Central and South America were 
under the Spanish rule. The English early gave 
up the mad search for gold and settled the coasts 
that later became our Thirteen Colonies. But the 
French delayed their exploration to wage wars to 
increase the territories of France in Europe. They 
knew of the vast lands beyond the Atlantic Ocean, 
yet their fishermen were at first the only ones who 
crossed to America. The early English sailors told 
of the great supply of fine big fish, cod and salmon, 

111 Florida ’ ’ is Spanish for flowery. 

5 


6 


ILLINOIS 


to be had in the distant waters. The French were 
first to follow this lead and they found the fishing 
best in the Gulf of St. Lawrence; consequently 
French fishing villages early in our history were 
built along the St. Lawrence waters. 

Why the French Were the First to Come to Illinois. 
—The English made their settlements along the 

Atlantic coast. Facing 
the English settlers were 
the Allegheny Moun¬ 
tains, and this barrier 
for many years kept 
them out of the great 
valley beyond. On the 
other hand, French set¬ 
tlers were on a direct 
water route to the inte¬ 
rior, and they soon made use of this easy means to 
explore and claim the greater part of the valleys of 
the Mississippi and the St. Lawrence. This easy 
route brought to Quebec and Montreal every spring 
great fleets of Indian canoes laden with furs. The 
broad waters leading to the wilds of the interior, 
the hordes of Indians, and the great stores of furs 
brought in tempted the French to explore the un¬ 
known lands to the west. The founder of Quebec 1 
was Champlain. He set out to explore. He dis¬ 
covered the long lake lying between New York and 

1 Quebec was founded in 1608. 



The French sailed due west to 
their fishing grounds, and brought 
home fish in plenty to tide them 
over their sacred days when they 
could eat no meat. The easy ac¬ 
cess to the interior tempted the 
Frenchmen to push farther and 
farther into our Middle West. No 
mountains kept them back; every 
water course invited them on. 








DISCOVERY 


7 


Vermont. By 1615 lie had reached Lake Huron. 
In 1635 Green Bay was entered by the French, and 
the Indian tales of a wonderful country and of 
great rivers to the south and west tempted them 
on and on. 

Joliet and Marquette.— 

With the hope of finding 
a water route to the 
western ocean and with 
the resolve to secure the 
vast interior for the 
French monarch, Joliet, 
a courageous explorer 
and fur trader, and Mar¬ 
quette, a devout Jesuit 
missionary, were sent 
on a voyage of discov¬ 
ery. They left Mackmac 
in the spring of 1673, 
skirting the western 
shores of Lake Michigan, entering Green Bay, 
and then ascending the Fox River to the por¬ 
tage to the Wisconsin. Down the latter, out on the 
Mississippi, and southward to the Arkansas River 
they floated. There they were convinced that the 
Mississippi did not flow into the western sea; ac¬ 
cordingly they turned north, returning by way of 
the Illinois River and Lake Michigan. Joliet was 
quick to see the advantages in Illinois, for he said 



The Route of Joliet and Mar¬ 
quette on their famous voyage of 
discovery in 1673, when Illinois 
was first seen by white men. 










8 


ILLINOIS 


of the Illinois Valley that it was “the most beauti¬ 
ful and most suitable for settlement” because “a 
settler would not spend there ten years in cutting 
down and burning trees; on the very day of his 



Joliet’s Map of New France 

This is a copy of a map made by Joliet after his return from his 
long voyage from Mackinac across to and down the Mississippi with 
Marquette in 1673. On the return Marquette remained at Queen Bay, 
but Joliet went on by water to Montreal. Notice that Joliet found 
coal in Illinois near La Salle. The Mississippi River he calls the Buade. 

arrival lie could put his plow into the ground.” 
No real-estate agent of to-day could paint such an 
attractive picture as that. Joliet saw, too, the ad¬ 
vantage of the Lake Michigan-Illinois River route, 
for he outlined a plan of a waterway through Lakes 














DISCOVERY 


9 



Father Marquette 

Erie, Huron, and Michigan, with a canal through 
“but half a league of prairie” to the Des Plaines 
and Illinois rivers. One hundred seventy-five 








10 


ILLINOIS 



Chicago Historical Society 

Louis Joliet, 1645-1700 

Joliet was born and died in Canada. His great feat was his journey 
with Marquette to find the mouth of the Mississippi. Joliet, the county 
seat of Will County, is named for him. 

years later that canal was opened for use. Joliet 
caught the first glimpse of the coming greatness of 
Illinois. 

Marquette. —As J oliet and Marquette were mak¬ 
ing their way slowly up the Illinois River, the 
priest promised a hand of Kaskaskia Indians who 



DISCOVERY 


11 


were near the present site of Utica that he would 
return and preach the gospel to them. True to his 
word, though now in the early stages of his last 
illness, Marquette with two attendants started 
southward from Green Bay 1 in the fall of 1674. 
In December they turned into the Chicago River, 
but winter was upon them, and the devout mis¬ 
sionary and his companions were forced to build 
a cabin within the present city limits of Chicago. 
He moved on in the spring and was received by the 
simple Indians of the Illinois Valley “as an angel 
from Heaven. ” But he knew that this was his last 
mission and he hoped to return to Mackinac before 
his death. With a few faithful companions Mar¬ 
quette made his way northward along the east 
shore of Lake Michigan. At last he was so weak 
that his friends had to carry him. In May (near 
the Manistee River, Michigan) he breathed his last 
in the woods and wilds where he had devoted his 
life to the savage Indian. Gentle, devout, and un¬ 
selfish, his life of peace and hope and love has in¬ 
spired many another missionary to live only for 
others. Side by side with those who followed the 
example of Marquette came the fur trader and the 
explorer, and they, following parallel yet different 
paths, played their part in winning the wilderness 
to the crown of France. The Indians, the wild men 
who felt that the forests and the prairies belonged 

1 Joliet had gone on to Montreal, but Marquette was not well enough 
to make that long journey. 


12 ILLINOIS 

to them, were given less and less heed as the years 
passed. 

QUESTIONS 

1. In what year did Columbus “come upon lands far to the west’’? 

2. Who were some Spanish explorers? What lands did they explore? 

3. Who were noted English explorers? Name states of to-day which 

they visited. 

4. Name four great French explorers. 

5. Name the parts of the ‘“direct water route to the interior.” 

6. In what century did the French push into the interior? 

7. Name three influences that spurred the French to go farther and 

farther into the interior. 

8. Why did the French come to Illinois almost one hundred years 

before the English? 

EXERCISES 

1. How many miles did the French fishers go when they went from 

France to the Gulf of St. Lawrence? 

2. Look up on a map the scale of miles and find out how far, as the 

bird flies, it is from the Chicago River to Quebec. 

3. How far from Paris was Joliet when he was at the mouth of the 

Illinois River in 1673? 

4. Take a piece of paper or cardboard and lay out on one edge, all 

from one point, one hundred, two hundred, and three hundred 
miles. Measure the distance of the water route from the Chicago 
River to Quebec. 

5. How many miles could Joliet save in a trip from Quebec to the 

Chicago River if he cut across from the western end of Lake 
Erie to the southern end of Lake Michigan? 

6. How far did a fur trader have to travel in taking furs from 

Kaskaskia to Mackinac by river and lake? 

7. How far, if the Kaskaskia merchant took them to New Orleans? 

8. Draw an outline map of Wisconsin, northern Michigan, Lake Mich¬ 

igan, Illinois, and continue the Mississippi River to its mouth. 
Put in the boundary lines between Minnesota, Iowa, Missouri, 
Arkansas, and Louisiana; also those between Kentucky, Ten¬ 
nessee, and Mississippi. Put in the Fox River (in Wisconsin), 
the Wisconsin, the Illinois, and the Arkansas rivers. Trace 
Joliet’s and Marquette’s journey of 1673, showing the outward 
journey, thus xxxxxx, and the return, thus .. 



CHAPTER III 


THE INDIANS 

The First Owners of Illinois. —The savages of 
Illinois who greeted the first white men, Marquette 
and Joliet, were no doubt the descendants of In¬ 
dians who had roamed the broad prairies in hunt¬ 
ing and had paddled the quiet rivers in fishing for 
many thousands of years. They were wild men 
indeed, for they knew nothing of the mineral wealth 
and almost nothing of the farm value of the Illinois 
lands. The Illinois Indians had a few towns, so 
called, where they gathered at harvest time and 
after hunting trips, hut these were really camps 
laid out in no order whatever and composed of huts 
made of bark and skins. One could hardly call 
these settlements towns; one could hardly call the 
inhabitants men; yet these savages loved to call 
themselves “Iliniwek,” 1 or “men.’ Their in¬ 
fluence on Illinois history amounts to little, for 
they gave up their lands to the white men with 
hardly a protest, and left practically nothing be¬ 
sides a few relics of barbarous times and a number 
of Indian names. 

The Indian Tribes About 1700. —- When the French 
traders and trappers (about 1700) began to make 
regular trips to the present boundaries of our state, 

1 The French changed this to 11 Illinois. ’ 1 

13 



14 ILLINOIS 

the Kickapoo and Potawatomi were in the north¬ 
ernmost portions and along the shores of Lake 
Michigan. At the same time the Illinois roamed 


Special Permission oj Newberry Library, Chicago 

Metea 

An Indian chief of the Potawatomi who lived in northeastern Illinois. 
He was a leader of the Indians in the Port Dearborn Massacre. He was 
a bad Indian, and he looks it. (Prcm the McKenney and Hall Collection 
of North American Indians.) 

the larger stretches of the state, which were drained 
by the Mississippi and the Illinois rivers. The 
Miami were in the Wabash Valley. Perhaps in the 
southernmost tip were some Shawnee, soon to with¬ 
draw to the south of the Ohio. 




THE INDIANS 


15 


The Coming of the White Men—Joliet learned as 
he floated down the Mississippi that the Illinois 
River was a shorter route to Lake Michigan than 
the Wisconsin River; accordingly, on their return, 
Marquette and Joliet went up the Illinois River. 
The abundance of fur-bearing animals, the beauti- 



Indian Relics 


ful valley, the rich soil, and the mild climate im¬ 
pressed the French explorers. From that day the 
Illinois were doomed to lose their lands. The fnr 
trade, the desire to explore, the hope of honor from 
the King for territory won, the zeal of the priest 
for converts—all moved the French to enter these 
lands. In one hundred sixty years the Indians 
were swept out of Illinois. 


16 


ILLINOIS 


The Results.—A few Indian curios—pottery, war 
dress, weapons, etc.; a few Indian names—Chicago, 
Peoria, Ottawa, etc.; an exchange of vices (the 
Indians taught the white men to smoke, the white 
men taught the Indians to drink); the stories of 
Indian wars and unjust treatment hy the whites: 
these are the paltry remains of white contact with 
the Indians. The Indians have had very little in¬ 
fluence on our history. 

QUESTIONS 

1. What did the Indians do for a living? 

2. What did the Indians think about the coming of the white men? 

3. Of what race are the Indians? 

4. Why were they called Indians? 

5. Why did the Indians fight the white men? 

6. What disadvantage did the Indians have in fighting? What 

advantages? 

7. What almost fatal vice did the Indians learn from the white men? 

8. What vice did the white men learn from the Indians? 

9. Why are Indian relics valuable? 

10. Where did the Indians come from? 

EXERCISES 

1. Draw an outline map of Illinois putting in the southern half of 

Lake Michigan, and the Rock, Illinois, and’ Kaskaskia rivers. 
Write in the proper places on this map the names of five tribes 
of Indians that were in Illinois in 1700. 

2. Draw an outline map of Illinois and locate with a large dot (and 

write its name near) the four places that have been mentioned in 
Chapters I and II. Add the two that are in the paragraph 
headings in Chapter III. 

3. Bring to class some Indian relics that you have ht home or some 

that you can get elsewhere. 


CHAPTER IV 


EARLY SETTLEMENTS IN ILLINOIS 

Illinois, One of the Early Colonies.—We usually 
think of the settlements on the Atlantic coast as 
the earliest 1 in the New World. This is true of 
most of the colonies. We usually look upon the 
founding of trading posts in the Middle West as 
events of a century or two later. This is true of 
most of the states of the Mississippi Valley, but 
Illinois had trading posts and settlements at the 
time William Penn was laying out the city of 
Philadelphia (1683). There were flourishing 
French villages in Illinois long before Georgia was 
founded (1733). Illinois, although a thousand 
miles to the west, can point to permanent settle¬ 
ments that are earlier than some in the original 
Thirteen Colonies 2 of the Atlantic seaboard. 

Chicago.—The first building that housed a white 
man in Illinois was Marquette’s hut, and this 
(1674) was within the present limits of Chicago. 
Somewhat later (1682) La Salle 3 established a 

1 The earliest settlements were those of John Smith's crew in Virginia 
in 1607, and the Pilgrims at Plymouth in 1620. 

2 Delaware set up a separate assembly and became a separate colony 
in 1704. 

3 La .Salle was one of the greatest of the French pioneers in America. 
About 1680 he explored Lake Michigan and the Illinois River Valley. 
He was a bold and courageous traveler, and he believed that some day 
Illinois would become a rich and peopled territory. 

17 


18 


ILLINOIS 



Chicago Historical Society 

Tonti 

Henri de Tonti had served both in the French navy and army before 
he came to the New World with La Salle. He was the faithful helper 
of La Salle and was with him in almost all of his great adventures; in 
his advent to Illinois, his discovery of the mouth of the Mississippi, at 
Fort Crevecceur, and at Starved Bock. His metal hand always held the 
Indians in awe. His was a life of faithfulness and loyalty. 

small trading post at the same place to serve as 
a lodging for his traders and as an intermediate 
storehouse for the furs hound for Mackinac. Still 
later (1692), as the fur trade increased, Tonti 
enlarged and strengthened this post. Whether 





EARLY SETTLEMENTS 


19 


there were white men living constantly at Chicago 
from the time of Marquette to the time of Tonti 1 
cannot be stated, but here was the first white habi¬ 
tation. Here men were coming and going more 



and more as the years went by, and it has been 
increasingly a trade center ever since. 

Fort St. Louis, Starved Rock, the Center of Trade. 
—The second white settlement in Illinois had a 
short history. Ever fearing the fierce Iroquois, La 
Salle chose a place exceedingly well fortified by 

1 Tonti was an Italian who had been a soldier in the French army in 
Europe for a number of years before he came with La Salle to Canada. 
He was the right-hand man of La Salle in the latter’s enterprises in 
Illinois. In some battle in Europe Tonti had lost a hand, which had 
been replaced with a metal one; hence he was often called the Man with 
an Iron Hand. 









20 ILLINOIS 

nature as a post for his fur trade with the Illinois 
Indians. This was Starved Rock, 1 not far from 
the present town of Utica. Here, on an elevation 
that rises straight out of the Illinois River to the 


Starved Rock 

(Kindness of T. J. McCormack.) 

height of one hundred twenty-five feet, with three 
sides so steep and high and rocky that no one could 

1 There is a legend that the Iroquois in 1769, bent on avenging the 
death of Pontiac, who was murdered by one of the Illinois Indians, 
besieged a band of the latter on Starved Rock. Finally after twelve 
days of siege, the Illinois, preferring death in battle to starvation, made 
a sally, and that all save one were killed. Hence the name “ Starved 
Rock. ’' 






EARLY SETTLEMENTS 


21 


climb them, and the fourth side difficult of ap¬ 
proach but easy of defense, was founded a post 
that was safe and secure (1682). It was called Port 
St. Louis for the king of Prance. With a secure 
fort in the heart of a great fur-bearing country like 
the Central West, La Salle was now ready to go 
forward with a plan he had long thought upon, of 
giving up the Great Lakes-St. Lawrence route 
to Prance and of using the Illinois-Mississippi 
highway for the transportation of his furs. The 
Montreal route was a land and water highway; this 
made loading and unloading necessary. This route 
was closed by ice during four or five months of each 
year, and besides, there were jealous enemies at 
Montreal and Quebec that gave him constant 
worry. The other route did away with these three 
objections. 

La Salle’s Plan Promises Success.—It looked as if 
La Salle’s plan would be successful. There rallied 
around him at Port St. Louis not only the Illinois 
but five other tribes. In a short time fifteen 
thousand Indians were housed in cabins near 
Starved Rock. Two conditions brought this about. 
The fort was a strong protection against the 
dreaded Iroquois, and here was a trading post 
where supplies as well as the trinkets and gewgaws 
so dear to the Indian could be exchanged. It was 
at this time that La Salle set up his halfway house 


22 


ILLINOIS 


at the Chicago portage. He made grants of land 
around Fort St. Louis to the French traders, and 
a permanent settlement was well started. But 
until he could get a post established at the mouth 
of the Mississippi, he had to depend on Canada 
for supplies. 

La Salle’s Last Journey.—La Salle determined to 
get permission from the King to establish a port 
on the Gulf of Mexico, 
for then he could carry 
out his plans without 
difficulty. In 1683 he 
went to France. There 
a great surprise was in 
store for him. A French 
friar, Father Hennepin, 
had traveled in Illinois and up the Mississippi 
River as far as the Falls of St. Anthony. On his re¬ 
turn to France he published in 1683 a book telling 
of his discoveries along the Mississippi River and 
of the explorations of La Salle. La Salle found 
himself famous. An interview with the King was 
easily obtained, and La Salle found him very will¬ 
ing that he should establish a fort on the Gulf of 
Mexico, for France was then at war with Spain. 
La Salle set out from France with four ships and 
men enough to complete his plans. But disaster 
was to be the end of it all, for the voyage was long 
and discouraging. They could not find the mouth 









Chicago Historical Society 

La Salle Taking Possession of Louisiana in the Name of Louis 

XIV, April 9, 1682 


23 




ILLINOIS 



24 

of the Mississippi, the Spaniards captured one 
ship, another went on shore in a storm, supplies 
were wasted, and his men deserted and died. 


La Salle 

(From a painting by G. P. A. Healy in the collections of 
Chicago Historical Society.) 

Finally La Salle started on foot, almost alone, to 
get help from his Illinois post. He had not traveled 
far before traitors in his band brutally murdered 
him. 



EARLY SETTLEMENTS 


25 


Peoria, Fort Pimitoui—After La Salle’s death 
Tonti was the chief French representative in the 
West. When he was granted, by the King of 
France, the sole right to the fur trade of Illinois 
and the West, he decided to move Fort St. Louis 
to a place farther from the dreaded Iroquois where 
at the same time it was easier to get wood and 
water. On the present site of Peoria was found a 
good location. Here a strong fort 1 was built 
(1691) and a thriving village sprang up. Here was 
the first permanent settlement in the state. This 
settlement was called sometimes Fort St. Louis and 
sometimes Fort Pimitoui. For two generations the 
French and the Indians made it a center of trade. 
French settlers prospered here, Jesuit priests built 
up a strong mission, and Tonti sent out many ex¬ 
peditions, some to trade for furs and others to 
drive back the hated Iroquois. 

Cahokia.—The second permanent settlement in 
Illinois was Cahokia (1699). The trading posts at 
Starved Rock and Peoria were established by fur 
traders and the priests came later, but Cahokia was 
founded by priests and the traders followed. 
Starved Rock and Peoria looked to Canada both in 
commerce and in religion. Cahokia had its re¬ 
ligious connections in Quebec, but its trade was 

a Fort Pimitoui should not be confused with Fort Creveeceur, which 
was two and a half miles farther down the river and on the south side. 
Fort Creveeceur was erected by La Salle early in 1680. It did not last 
until the summer of that year, for as soon as La Salle and Tonti left, 
the men destroyed the fort and deserted. 


26 


ILLINOIS 


down the Mississippi. Although in the American 
Bottom, the richest farming land in America, 
Cahokia 1 has to-day some twenty or twenty-five 
houses, about as many as it had two hundred years 
ago. 

Kaskaskia,—In the same year (1699) in which 
the Seminary priests of Quebec founded the mis¬ 
sion at Cahokia, the French, under the leadership 
of Iberville, built a fort at Biloxi near the mouth 
of the Mississippi. Iberville planned a vast trade 
in the Mississippi Valley in buffalo and deer skins. 
It was a part of this plan to move the Illinois 
Indians to the Ohio Valley. But only a part of the 
tribe, the Kaskaskia, would go. So in 1700, ac¬ 
companied by a Jesuit priest, they moved down 
the Illinois and Mississippi, halting temporarily 
in the southern part of the American Bottom. 
However, they did not go farther. A mission was 
established, French traders came, and a prosperous 
town grew up called, after the Indians, Kaskaskia. 
For over a hundred years this town was the me¬ 
tropolis of Illinois, hut its natural advantages were 
few, and it sank hack to unimportance. To-day 
the Mississippi Biver flows over its site. 

Fort de Chartres.—At the beginning of the 
eighteenth century the French had visions of a 
great crescent of territory extending from the 

1 During the British rule in Illinois (1765-1778), Cahokia was a village 
of forty-five houses. The census of 1800 gave it a population of 719, 
but it has gradually dwindled since. 


EARLY SETTLEMENTS 


27 


mouth of the St. Lawrence to the mouth of the 
Mississippi. They had built forts at important 
points westward from Quebec to protect them¬ 
selves from the Indians and to make secure their 
claim on the territory. The more important of 
these forts were Fort Frontenac, at the north¬ 
eastern corner of Lake Ontario; Fort Niagara, 
between Lakes Ontario and Erie; Fort Miami, at 
the western reach of Lake Erie; Detroit, fifty miles 
farther north; Mackinac, at the meeting of Lakes 
Huron and Michigan; Chicago on the west and St. 
Joseph on the east side, at the head of Lake Michi¬ 
gan; and Fort St. Louis (Starved Rock) and Fort 
Pimitoui (Peoria) on the Illinois River. Fifteen 
miles north of Kaskaskia was the place chosen for 
the largest of the French forts, and when it was 
finished (1720) it was named for the French prince, 
Charles. At once a village clustered about its 
palisades. Here was the seat of government for 
the Illinois country for many years. In the middle 
of the eighteenth century it was rebuilt of stone 
with walls over two feet in thickness and fifteen 
feet in height. It was almost square, four hundred 
ninety feet on a side, and planned for a garrison 
of three or four hundred men. No fortress in 
America equaled it in size. 

When Fort de Chartres was at its height, there 
were sights in Illinois that were unusual in a 
wilderness. The officers were of the noblest 



28 ILLINOIS 

families in France. Their long coats, embroidered 
vests, and knee breeches, all in the brightest of 
colors, with the beautiful gowns of the ladies, gave 
a bit of Paris in Illinois seldom to be seen again. 


Chicago Historical Society 

Remains of Fort de Chartres 

This is what remains of the powder magazine of what was once the 
greatest fort in America. It is now in a state park. 

It was an effort to have in America’s largest fort a 
fragment of French life found only in Quebec, 
Montreal, or Paris. But the French and Indian 
War ended the gay life of the French in Illinois. 
Soon they learned that these lands were to fall into 
the hands of the British, and when that news came, 
the French went to New Orleans or crossed the 



EARLY SETTLEMENTS 


29 


Mississippi River to make the beginnings of the 
great city of St. Lonis. 

When the British took possession of New 
France, Chartres was renamed Fort Cavendish. 
The British, in a stroke of economy, removed the 
garrison (1772) and dismantled the fort. The 
Mississippi, a little later, washed away a large por¬ 
tion of the wall; still later much of the stone was 
taken away for building purposes, so that to-day 
there remains little trace of a fort that was once 
the greatest in America. 

The American Bottom.—The earliest settlements 
in Illinois did not all prosper. Chicago was a 
desolate trading post and halfway house for over 
one hundred years, Starved Rock was abandoned 
within ten years, and Pimitoui (Peoria) existed 
but did not thrive until the nineteenth century. 
But it is a different story with Cahokia, Kaskaskia, 
and Chartres, for these settlements in the American 
Bottom had a prosperous history throughout the 
eighteenth century. The American Bottom was a 
strip of lowland on the east side of the Mississippi, 
extending from the mouth of the Missouri to the 
mouth of the Kaskaskia River. It was from three 
to twelve miles wide. Here was the richest land 
in America. The vegetation was almost tropical 
in its growth. Dense forests with the trees over¬ 
grown with the wild grapevine were choked by 
undergrowth. The flats yielded abundant crops 


30 


ILLINOIS 


with little labor. Long before the French came, 
the inhabitants of this favored spot had developed 
the highest civilization 1 in North America. After 
the coming of the French it was the scene of 
the most important activities of the state for more 
than one hundred years. The early history of 
Illinois was in the American Bottom. 

QUESTIONS 

1. Captain John Smith and his company came to Virginia in what 

year? 

2. In what year did the Pilgrims come to Plymouth? 

3. Name some of the early colonies. 

4. When was Georgia founded? Delaware? 

5. Name two very early trading posts of Illinois. 

6. What two of the Thirteen Colonies can you name that were founded 

after Peoria and Cahokia were established? 

7. Name two early trading posts on the Illinois River. 

8. Name two early trading posts on the Mississippi River. 

9. Who founded the first permanent settlement in Illinois? 

10. Who founded an earlier temporary settlement in Illinois? 

11. What early settlement has grown greatly? What settlement almost 

not at all? 

12. What two early settlements have disappeared entirely? 

13. Locate the American Bottom. Tell something about it. 

EXERCISES 

1. Take an outline map (or draw one) of the United States and 

locate on it (printing the names in the proper places) all the 
towns and colonies mentioned in the text and footnotes of 
Chapter IV. 

2. Draw an outline map of Illinois and locate on it (putting in the 

names) all the places mentioned in Chapter IV. 

1 It is an unsettled question as to how high a degree this civilization 
went. It probably reached a level not much higher than the highest 
grade reached by any North American tribe. 


CHAPTER V 


THE FRENCH IN ILLINOIS 

France in the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries. 

—During the period of the colonization of America, 
Prance was the most powerful nation of Europe. 
She was not only the most powerful; she was also 
the most populous. Her population was almost 
four times that of England, and equaled that of 
Austria and Prussia combined. It at first seems 
strange that Prance was not one of the most active 
of the nations of Europe in placing colonies in the 
New World. The chief reason for this was that 
her kings and chief statesmen were absorbed in 
extending the borders of Prance in Europe and 
making strong her government at home. When 
the king and chief councilors at last did see that 
there was important work overseas for France, the 
opportunity for planting settlements on the 
Atlantic coast was gone. 

France Neglects Her Colonies. —Although there 
was little chance for France on the shores of the 
Atlantic, there were left the valleys of the St. 
Lawrence and the Mississippi. But still the great 
men of France did not see the wonderful chance 
for a vast empire over the sea. When men were 
sent out to locate colonies, they were not sure of 
support from home. The aid for the colonists was, 
for a while, freely given, and then taken away. 

31 


32 


ILLINOIS 


There were seasons when all seemed prosperous, 
and then there were hard times. There was light 
and shadow. Little progress was made during the 
first half of the seventeenth century. 

A Great French King Plans an Empire. —In 1608 
Champlain laid out the streets of Quebec, and be¬ 
fore his death, twenty-seven years later, the St. 
Lawrence Valley and the Great Lakes region were 
in name French possessions, because French 
traders and French priests had traveled westward 
into lands now known as Wisconsin and Michigan. 
But France did not develop these great regions. 
For almost sixty years after the founding of 
Quebec, France gave little aid to the settlement of 
this vast territory. Very little was done in coloniz¬ 
ing until the time of Louis XIV. He was one of 
the greatest of French rulers. He took a personal 
interest in his American colonists. He spent many 
hours reading reports from New France, and sent 
much advice to the rulers of his distant lands. Ex¬ 
ploration was encouraged and many important 
expeditions set out. Joliet and Marquette explored 
the Wisconsin, the Mississippi, and the Illinois 
rivers. La Salle (1682) extended the exploration 
of the Mississippi to the Gulf. France now could 
claim the great inland empire of the valleys of the 
Mississippi, of the Great Lakes, and of the St. 
Lawrence. England had the Atlantic slope—very 
little in comparison. 


THE FRENCH 


33 


Early Government in Illinois, District Control.— 

France had a strong central government, and her 
statesmen thought such a government was best for 
their colonies, so they moved the Old World ma¬ 
chinery of control bodily to Hew France. In the 
new country, with new conditions, it failed to work 
successfully. Central control with all lines leading 
to Quebec and thence to Paris was the plan of the 
government. Central control in religion, with all 
the priests directly under the rule of the bishop at 
Quebec, was the plan of the church. And even in 
trade and agriculture, the people were bound by 
hard and fast regulations that came to them from 
the King by the way of Quebec and later through 
Hew Orleans. For the earliest settlers in Illinois 
Quebec was the seat of government, but after 1717 
Illinois was under rule of Louisiana. Louisiana 
in that day included nearly all of the Mississippi 
Valley, and the district of Illinois was a zone whose 
northern boundary was the Illinois extended east 
and whose southern boundary was the Ohio ex¬ 
tended west. 

The governor of Louisiana appointed a ruler for 
Illinois who was known as the major commandant . 
He was not only commander of the soldiers, but he 
was also an assessor of the cleared land, a census 
taker, a supervisor of the inhabitants, deciding 
how much money could be loaned to each, how many 
churches could be built, and what crops could be 


34 


ILLINOIS 


planted. In short, he was a sort of guardian of 
the people. There were three other officials of 
note. The judge was more important in those 
days than these, for he was not only head of the 
department of justice, but also those of police and 
of finance. He had many disputes to settle. All 
quarrels, great and small, were taken to court, and 
each person pleaded his case before the judge with¬ 
out the aid and expense of a lawyer. The guardian 
of the warehouse had charge of all supplies sent 
from France for the garrisons at the forts. If 
there was an excess, it was sold to the people. He 
always had a large trade. The notary was, like the 
judge of those days, a far more important person 
than our notary public. He not only drew and 
witnessed legal papers, as does our notary, but he 
was also the clerk of the court, clerk of the garri¬ 
son, and clerk of the registration of citizens. 

Local Control. —Tt must be borne in mind that the 
government in those days always had a religious 
side. Two hundred years ago the priest was a 
government official and received his salary from 
the royal treasury. Besides the duties.he exercises 
to-day, he called and presided over town meetings 
when the matter in hand pertained to the church; 
as, for example, repairs on church buildings, build¬ 
ing chapels for the Indians, and election of church 
wardens. If the business concerned the village, the 
syndic (a kind of mayor) presided. The inhab- 


THE FRENCH 35 

itants of Illinois two hundred years ago had ques¬ 
tions up for settlement far different from those 
that come before town governments to-day. Their 
problems were not whether they should pave a 
street, or put in sewers, or license pool rooms, or 
grant a street-car-line franchise. They elected of- 



Plan of an Old French Village 

Next Year Third Year 

A—Planted to grain Peas and oats Fallow 

B—Planted to peas, and oats Fallow Grain 

C—Lying fallow (not cultivated) Grain Peas and oats 

1, 2, 3, 4, 5, etc., strip of land allotted to the different members of 
the village. The strips were usually one rod wide and of any length. 
If the strip was forty rods long, it was a furrow-long or a furlong. 
The lines between the strips were separated by leaving a furrow un¬ 
plowed or by plowing in the opposite direction, thus leaving a back 
furrow. 

fleers of the village, voted on repairs to roads and 
fences, and decided on the time of plowing or 
planting or harvesting, for their farm lands were 
laid out in such a strange way that it was necessary 
to do the farm work all at the same time. 

Agriculture.—Farm life in Illinois two hundred 
years ago was far different from what it is to-day. 

















36 


ILLINOIS 


The farmers to-day live on their own lands, plow, 
plant, and harvest when they please, and have their 
own pastures for their stock. In the early eight¬ 
eenth century the farmers lived together in the 
towns, did their farm work at times fixed by town 
meetings, and had one common grazing ground 
for their cattle. Instead of square forty-acre or 
one-hundred-sixty-acre plots fenced into different 
fields, there were for each town or village two great 
fields, separated by a long fence. The fence be¬ 
tween these fields was built and kept in repair by 
these village farmers, each being held for the part 
across his land. One of the fields was divided into 
strips about two hundred feet wide separated by 
sod about two furrows wide. Each villager had a 
long string of acres, sometimes as many as forty, 
which he cultivated at times set by the town as¬ 
sembly. In the other field the cattle grazed. Each 
farmer had his cattle branded or marked in a cer¬ 
tain way, and this mark was registered by the 
notary. 

Why Farming Failed. —Illinois is to-day one of 
the first states in the Union in agriculture. It 
seems strange that two hundred years ago farming 
was a failure here. There were several reasons. 
Most of the work was done by Negro or Indian 
slaves, and of course very poorly done. Their tools 
were the crudest. The plow was of wood with an 
iron point tied on with rawhide. It took three men 


THE FRENCH 


37 


to plow: one to guide the plow, one—a very strong 
man—to hold it in the ground, and one to drive. 
Their wagons were small box-like, two-wheeled 
carts. The wheels were solid wood and had no 
tires. They used oxen, but did not yoke them. A 
strong bar of wood was fastened across the horns, 



Chicago Historical Society 

A Plow a Century Ago 


I Plows were made almost entirely of wood a hundred years ago. A nose 
or point of iron was bolted on or tied on with rawhide. Such a plow 
was not a very effective tool in the tough sod of Illinois. 

and the tongue from the plow or cart was made fast 
to that. The oxen were guided by a single rope of 
rawhide fastened to the horns. If they used horses, 
they were hitched one in front of the other. No 
reins were used. Whether they plowed or culti¬ 
vated or harvested, they all had to farm at the 
same time and in the same way. It is no wonder 
they failed as farmers. 










38 


ILLINOIS 


Indian Trade. —As soon as the Indians came into 
contact with white men, they quickly took on habits 
and made use of many instruments and utensils 
that the white men had. Chief among these were 
fire water and firearms. In a short time the In¬ 
dians became absolutely dependent on the colonists 
for many things. The furs which the Indians 
brought were the chief articles of the red man’s 
produce. These they traded for knives, hatchets, 
firearms, powder, shot, and cooking utensils, be¬ 
sides the colored trinkets and beads so highly prized 
by the Indians. 

The furs were not only the produce but they 
were the small change of the country. Instead of 
the small coins, so common in our day, the settlers 
used furs. The beaver skin was the chief coin. 
Other furs were all rated in terms of this skin. It 
was many years before specie came to this frontier. 

Houses. —The people lived in houses of the 
frontier type. They were built either of logs, 
usually set upright, or of rough hewn stone. The 
floor was either of clay, hard packed, or of logs 
dressed level with an adze. The buildings were 
low, hardly a story and a half, with one door and 
few windows. These houses, which were about 
twenty by forty feet, had usually one room, some¬ 
times two, and seldom were more than three-room 
affairs. A broad fireplace was at one end, and this 
and the chimney were made of stone. This was 


THE FRENCH 


39 



cook stove and heating plant in one. The low attic 
above was reached by a ladder. Here the children 
slept on straw or feather beds on the floor. It was 
warm and close up there—the night air never 
harmed them nor their parents. All went to bed 


Old French House 

The house of the early habitants of Illinois was usually twenty by 
forty, with a narrow porch across the front and the rear. A fence 
enclosed a garden and a small orchard. (From the collection of the 
late Pierre Chouteau, St. Louis. Special permission of Chicago Historical 
Society.) 

at dark, as the rest of the world did in the eight¬ 
eenth century, for there was nothing else to do. 
True there were candles, but more were consumed 
in the churches than in the log houses. 

Dress. —The clothing was homemade. It was 
either homespun, all wool, heavy and warm, or 
beaver skin made soft and pliable. The men wore 








40 


ILLINOIS 



roomy trousers, and a loose sort of coat reaching 
to the knees and fastened at the waist with a belt. 
The women had skirts of this same homespun, but 
their waists and summer dresses were a kind of 
homemade calico. The children wore little in sum¬ 
mer, going bare-armed, bareheaded, and bare- 


* „ _ Chicago Historical Society 

Old French Cart 

footed. In winter all had good fur caps; in sum¬ 
mer, straw hats plaited by the women. If they 
wore knitted caps, each village had its color. Kas- 
kaskia’s color was blue as was Quebec’s. Montreal 
people wore red. In winter, oiled deerskin mocca¬ 
sins laced halfway to the knees covered two or 
three pairs of heavy woolen socks. In summer all 
went barefooted. 












THE FRENCH 


41 


Food.—One of the great advantages of frontier 
life of those days was the abundance of food. 
Wheat and rye were made into flour at the village 
mills, which were driven by wind or by horse 
power. Corn meal was little used by the French. 
Large amounts of fat salted pork were put down 
for winter, and it was a rare habitant 1 that did not 
have a good supply of jerked 2 buffalo meat. Game 
of all kinds could be easily had. The French 
learned the art of smoking venison from the In¬ 
dians. No cabin lacked an ample supply hanging 
from the beams. The fruits and vegetables we have 
to-day were common two hundred years ago, but 
peas were the staple then instead of potatoes. Sour 
milk was the chief beverage; tea was scarce and 
costly; and coffee was almost unknown. Brandy 
was imported in large amounts—and the Indians 
did not get the most of it. Churns were not in use. 
The little butter they had was made by shaking 
cream in- a bottle. 

Habits of the People.—Where food came easy, life 
was care free and industry was uncommon. The 
people of those days lost little time in getting the 
farm work done on their strips of land. They had 
much time for visiting, drinking, card playing, and 
dancing. The French were not long in learning 
the unproductive habit of smoking from the In- 

1 ‘ 1 Habitant ’ ’ (Hab'-i-tant), a French settler in New France. 

2 “Jerked,” from a Peruvian word that means dried beef. Jerked 
meat was meat that had been cut into long strips and dried. 


42 


ILLINOIS 


dians. Much time was spent in hunting both for 
the meat and the skins. Every village had its 
tiddler, and no Sunday passed without all, the 
priest included, attending the Sunday dance. 

Religion—The French of Illinois were quite as 
religious as those of New France. The loyalty of 
the French to their religion was an outstanding 
trait. In spite of weather or distance, all came on 
Sunday morning to attend mass. Here, under the 
leadership of the priest, all were united. Their 
religion was no matter of one day a week, for their 
priest was leader, comrade, and councilor. No 
event in the lives of these early settlers was kept 
from him, and his influence on these far frontiers¬ 
men was powerful and lasting. 

Education—The priest was the school-teacher of 
the village. But having many other duties, he had 
little time to teach much besides the catechism. 
Schools did not exist. There was no school in 
Kaskaskia, the chief town of the state, until 1817. 
Hardly one in ten could read or write. There 
were no newspapers until 1814, when the Illinois 
Herald was printed in Kaskaskia. Hunters and 
traders brought in the news from Canada and 
New Orleans. 

QUESTIONS 

1. Give in order from left to right the digits of the year that is 

twelfth in the sixteenth century. That is forty-third in the 
seventeenth century. 

2. Name the most powerful country in Europe in those centuries. 


THE FRENCH 


43 


3. What two great valleys did the French explore? 

4. Name four great French explorers who came to Illinois lands. 

5. The control of French Illinois first centered in what American city? 

6. Wherein did an early notary of Illinois differ from a notary of 

to-day? 

7. What two officials controlled a town or village in Illinois of the 

French period? 

8. Tell how farming two hundred years ago in Illinois differed from 

farming of to-day. 


EXERCISES 

1. Draw a line eight inches long. At the ends of it and at right 

angles to it, draw half-inch lines that extend a quarter of an 
inch above and below the long line. Also draw in the same way 
half-inch lines at each inch of distance between the end cross 
lines. Label (above) the first cross line at the left, 1500; the 
second, 1600; and so on to the last one, 1900. On this diagram 
write below the long line and in the proper places: first half of 
sixteenth century; last half of seventeenth century. Locate on 
the long line the year Marquette went into winter quarters on 
the present site of Chicago and write at right angles to the long 
line, Marquette at Chicago (year). In the same way locate, 
La Salle goes down the Mississippi and Tonti at Peoria. 

2. Take (or draw) an outline map of the United States. Draw a 

light line from about Portland, Maine, inward some one or two 
hundred miles from the coast cutting the rivers that empty into 
the Atlantic not far from their sources and letting the line come 
to the coast again at the boundary line between Florida and 
Georgia. This will roughly show the English settlement. Make 
this line heavy. 

3. Then start a light line east from Quebec to the present Maine 

boundary keeping west of the western boundary line of the 
English settlements following the Allegheny and Ohio rivers to 
Kentucky thence southwest and south to the Gulf near the west 
end of Florida. Start another line westward from Quebec swing¬ 
ing north of the Great Lakes to the source of the Mississippi 
River and thence south through western Iowa, Missouri, Arkansas, 
and Louisiana to the Gulf. Make these two lines heavy, and 
you have a rough picture of the French claims in the first half 
of the, eighteenth century. 


CHAPTER VI 

THE STRUGGLE FOR THE MIDDLE WEST 

A New Age in Europe and America. —The 

eighteenth century was not many years old before 
a marked change came over the plans of the great 
men who ruled France. This change had its effect 
in America, and in the end altered the course of 
events in Illinois. For two hundred years France 
had been striving toward one goal: to control the 
nations of Europe. As the eighteenth century ad¬ 
vanced, France was forced to give up that prize; 
for she was drawn into a conflict with England, 
and the object of the struggle was the colonial 
empire of the world. This contest was waged in 
India, in Europe, and in America. 

The Indians. —In this struggle on the American 
continent the Indians were active allies. The 
Iroquois, living in New York and northern Penn¬ 
sylvania, were near the British colonists, traded 
with them, and had treaties with them; they were 
friends of the British. South of the Ohio River 
the Chickasaw, Cherokee, and Natchez were on the 
side of the British for the same reasons. But most 
of the other tribes fought on the side of the French. 
Both the French and the British encouraged the 
Indians by fair means and foul to fight in the 
battles on one side or the other. The Indians were 

44 


STRUGGLE FOR THE MIDDLE WEST 45 


too simple-minded to see that no matter which side 
won the Indians lost. 

The European Wars. —Commerce underlay the 
European wars of the seventeenth and eighteenth 
centuries. England felt 
that she would not be se¬ 
cure in her island unless 
she was supreme on the 
sea. To rule the ocean 
wave, she must have the 
largest foreign com¬ 
merce. Four great wars 
between 1680 and 1760 
were waged, and in each 
of these France and 
England were the chief 
contestants. Every time 
these two countries went 
to war, the French and 
English colonists in 
America took up the 
fight. And every time 
the Indians were easily persuaded to make the con¬ 
flict more frightful. 

The Conflict in America. —In the beginning, Eng¬ 
land held the poorer lands along the Atlantic sea¬ 
board, while France held the richer valleys of the 
Mississippi, the Great Lakes, and the St. Law¬ 
rence. All of America from the western frontier 



The Growth of English Terri¬ 
tory in America 

This great gain in territory for 
the English was the result of the 
French and Indian War. 













ILLINOIS 


46 

of the English settlements to the Bocky Mountains 
was wonderfully rich in fur-bearing animals. The 
fur trader always was sure of rich returns. The 
French, in exploring widely and founding forts 
throughout the Mississippi Valley and Great Lakes 
region, tried to control these lands which were well 
stocked with furs. But the English colonies grew 
many times more rapidly than the French. The 
French were outnumbered ten to one, and more. 
When the English settlers began to cross the Alle¬ 
ghenies, the French took the alarm, and the strug¬ 
gle for the Middle West was on in earnest. 

The English Advance. —The King of England 
made a large grant of land to the Ohio Company. 
This land was bounded by the Monongahela, the 
Ohio, and the Kanawha rivers. The French at 
once warned the English to keep out of the Ohio 
Valley, but the English colonists did not heed the 
warning. Virginia made a larger grant in the 
Ohio Valley to another land company. The French 
promptly built three forts to stop the advance. 
These were at Presque Isle (Erie), Le Boeuf , x and 
Venango (Franklin). 

Washington’s Journey. —It was at this time that 
Washington went to the French at these forts and 
delivered the message of Governor Dinwiddie of 
Virginia that the French were on territory of the 
“Crown of Great Britain.” His efforts were in 

1 On French Creek about twenty miles south of Presque Isle. 


STRUGGLE FOR THE MIDDLE WEST 47 


vain. The French paid no attention to the claims 
of the English. 

The French Successes. —The British built a fort 
on the present site of Pittsburgh. The French at 
once captured it. Washington had to surrender to 
the French at Fort Necessity, and the next year 
(1755) Braddock met a crushing defeat a few 
miles from Fort Duquesne. Almost all of the In¬ 
dians then joined the French. 

Pitt, the Statesman.— In the middle of the 
eighteenth century a new leader had come to con¬ 
trol the English plans. He saw clearly that Great 
Britain must rule the Mississippi Valley. Soldiers 
and money he devoted to this end. A vigorous cam¬ 
paign was begun to seize all the possessions of 
France in America. The French promptly op¬ 
posed. Illinois was called on for men and supplies 
to aid in turning the British out of the Ohio Valley. 
Every time the French sent an expedition against 
the British, Illinois was asked for soldiers, for 
grain, and for meat. 

Aubry, the Soldier from Illinois.— Many expe¬ 
ditions left Illinois to aid in holding the Ohio Val¬ 
ley for the French. Each force proceeded down 
the Mississippi, then slowly up the Ohio. Aubry, 
in 1756, was at Fort de Chartres with one hundred 
fifty soldiers. He was ordered to erect a fort on 
the Ohio to stop a British force that was on the 
way to the Mississippi. In the extreme southern 


48 


ILLINOIS 


tip of Illinois a frame fort, called first Fort As¬ 
cension and later Fort Massac, 1 was completed. 
The next year Aubry was sent with men and sup¬ 
plies to the aid of Fort Duquesne. This was the 



The Frontier Forts of the French and Indian War 
The line of French forts in western New York and Pennsylvania show 
very clearly the western limit the French placed to the English advance. 

last effort of the French to hold the Ohio Valley. 
The tide had turned. In November, 1758, they 
burned Fort Duquesne, and retreated, leaving the 
Ohio Valley in the possession of the British. The 
French retired to Illinois. 

Aubry’s Defeat.— With the Ohio Valley lost, an 
effort was made to save the Lake region. Again 
(1759) Aubry set out from Illinois with soldiers 
and supplies. Down the Mississippi, up the Ohio, 
up the Wabash, across to Lake Erie, and on to Fort 
Presque Isle he went. He found it deserted. He 

1 Named “Massac” for a French minister, not for “massacre,” as 
none ever took place there. 











STRUGGLE FOR THE MIDDLE WEST 49 


went on toward Fort Niagara. When almost there, 
he encountered William Johnson with a British 
force. Aubry was defeated and taken prisoner. 
The Great Lakes region was then in British hands. 

The End of the French in America. —While Aubry 
was on his ill-starred march, Quebec had been won 
by the British in the famous fight between Mont¬ 
calm and Wolfe. Montreal was the last great 
stronghold in the hands of the French. The British 
forces closed on the French at Montreal, and in 
1760 the city was forced to give up. The French 
had lost the St. Lawrence Valley. In the treaty 
that closed this war, France gave all her possessions 
east of the Mississippi, except New Orleans, to 
England. Her territories west of the Mississippi 
she gave to Spain. Thus France lost her American 
colonial empire. 

Pontiac’s Conspiracy. —Bor many years the In¬ 
dians had been brooding over the injustice of the 
white men, whether French or English. The white 
men took their lands, cut down the trees, and thus 
destroyed their hunting grounds. Now that the 
French power was gone, there was no need for the 
British to purchase the aid of the Indians. There 
were no French officials to give them presents, and 
the British could see no benefit in giving them 
bribes. Furthermore the traders practiced all 
kinds of tricks to deprive the Indians of their 
goods. The major trick was to get the Indian 


ILLINOIS 



50 

drunk, and then cheat him of his wares in a one¬ 
sided bargain. When the Indians at last clearly 
saw that there was little hope for them with the 


Chicago Historical Society 

Pontiac 

British moving into the hunting grounds and lay¬ 
ing out farms, with the end of presents from 
French and British at hand, and with the injustice 
dealt them in trading, they were easily persuaded 
that the time was ripe to rise against the white 
men; and Pontiac, chief of the Ottawa Indians, 



STRUGGLE FOR THE MIDDLE WEST 51 

Rad no trouble in uniting all the tribes of tbe North 
Central lands against the British. This plan was 
developed in 1761 and 1762. Since the French 
were still in the Illinois country, there was no at¬ 
tack on them, but in 1763 every British fort in the 
Middle West, except Detroit, Niagara, and Pitt, 
fell into Pontiac’s hands. But his success did not 
last long. In 1764 the British sent two successful 
expeditions into the Ohio country, and the next 
year a general peace was signed between the In¬ 
dians and the British. The Indians then gave up 
all hope of keeping the white man out of their 
hunting grounds. 

Illinois Under the British Flag.— When the Com¬ 
mandant of Illinois heard that peace between 
France and England had been signed, he retired 
to New Orleans with most of his troops and many 
of the French habitants (1764). A large number 
moved across the Mississippi, for it was not then 
known that the western bank had been ceded to 
Spain. This was the beginning of St. Louis. Six¬ 
teen months later a British officer, Captain Stir¬ 
ling, marched into Fort de Chartres; and Illinois, 
over two and one half years after the signing of 
the treaty of peace, was under English rule. The 
thirteen years that the British governed Illinois 
were not happy ones. In the first place there was 
no civil government. The British in command 
were soldiers, and no one is happy under military 


52 


ILLINOIS 


government. In the second place there were no 
courts. The French were an excitable people and 
often in dispute, and now they had no place to 
settle their quarrels. Next the people of Illinois 
were used to French law, and their rulers knew 
nothing of it. And last, just before the British 
came the Catholic priests were forced to leave be¬ 
cause the Jesuit order had been banished from 
France, and from New France as well, so that there 
were no religious services in the Illinois country. 
No Sunday services, no marriage rites, no baptisms, 
no funeral services—to a religious people like the 
French in early Illinois these were hardships. It 
is no wonder that these people welcomed a change 
of rule. 

The Effect of the American Revolution in Illinois.— 

News of the rebellion of the English colonists was 
not long in coming to the French villages of the 
American Bottom. The invasion of Canada by 
the revolutionists forced the governor at Quebec 
to summon the British troops in Illinois to hasten 
to save Canada. A Frenchman was appointed as 
British agent in charge of the Illinois district. He 
did his best, and soon had the French habitants 
quiet and contented. But during the rule of the 
British, many traders from the Atlantic coast had 
come to the Illinois country. These were, for the 
most part, in sympathy with the revolutionists. 
Messages were constantly going back and forth 


STRUGGLE FOR THE MIDDLE WEST 53 

between the anti-British of Illinois and the East. 
The French militia, organized to protect British 
interests, came under the influence of the English- 
speaking merchants.and looked upon the colonial 
troops as friends. The French commandant wrote 
to his British superior at Detroit, “We are upon 
the eve of seeing here a numerous band of brigands 
who will establish a chain of communication which 
will not be easy to break. ’ ’ While the French agent 
of the British at Kaskaskia was writing this mes¬ 
sage, “the brigands’’ were nearer the American 
Bottom than he thought. 

George Rogers Clark.—His Plan.—The English- 
speaking traders in Kaskaskia had often sent word 
of the defenseless condition of the French villages 
in Illinois. This word came to the ears of a fron¬ 
tiersman, then only twenty-six years of age, George 
Rogers Clark. For some time Clark had been 
thinking about plans to protect Kentucky against 
the British and their Indian allies north of the 
Ohio. He was extremely interested in the county 
(now the state) of Kentucky. It was through his 
personal appeal to the governor of Virginia that 
Kentucky had been made a county of Virginia. 
As a result Clark was made major of militia with 
the task of keeping Kentucky free from the In¬ 
dians. He finally decided that he must sweep the 
British out of the Old Northwest before there 
would be peace and quiet. The first steps were to 


ILLINOIS 


54 

take the outposts of Detroit, Vincennes, and Kas- 
kaskia. He went to Governor Henry of Virginia 
and laid the plan before him. Patrick Henry 
asked Jefferson’s advice. With the approval of 
these men the measure was passed by the council 
of Virginia. This bill made Clark a colonel with 

power to enlist men, to 
promise the men, if the 
plan succeeded, three 
hundred acres of land 
apiece, and to get mili¬ 
tary supplies at Port 
Pitt. 

At Kaskaskia. —Early 
in the year (1778) that 
saw the British with¬ 
draw from Philadel¬ 
phia and almost lose 
their army at Mon¬ 
mouth, Clark gathered 
one hundred fifty backwoodsmen at Fort Pitt 
and floated down the Ohio. On arriving at Fort 
Massac, Clark left the river and struck across the 
country. He reached Kaskaskia late July 4, 1778, 
crossed the Kaskaskia River in boats supplied by 
friends, entered the village, took the fort, and was 
welcomed by the American merchants who had pre¬ 
pared the minds of the people of Illinois for the 
entrance of colonial troops. The French people at 




STRUGGLE FOR THE MIDDLE WEST 55 

first feared that the “Long Knives”—as Clark’s 
men were called—would harm them because of the 
barbarities the Indians had committed. Clark told 



Keystone View Company 

Fort Massac 


Present view of the State Park near Metropolis. The Ohio River is 
on the left. A fort was erected here by Aubry in 1757, who a little later 
successfully defeated the Cherokee Indians in an attack on this fort* 
Here George Rogers Clark in 1778 landed his troops, and marched over¬ 
land, avoiding the downstream current of the Mississippi, in his expe¬ 
dition to Kaskaskia. The monument is in memory of Clark. There is 
a cannon mounted at each of the four corners of the old fort. 

them that the French king was helping the colonists 
fight England, that they would be unharmed if 
they became citizens of Virginia, and that they 
could worship as they pleased. The joy of the 









56 


ILLINOIS 


French at this news was great. The other villages 
of the American Bottom submitted to Clark. Thus 
the Illinois country was lost to the British. 

At Vincennes. —Clark learned from his new allies 
in Kaskaskia that Vincennes would renounce 



Clark’s expedition gave Virginia a strong claim on the land north 
and west of the Ohio River. It was made a county of Virginia, but 
finally Virginia gave up her claim and in 1784 it was organized as the 
Northwest Territory. 

British rule as quickly as had Kaskaskia and 
Cahokia. He sent a delegation to request the people 
of Vincennes to become citizens of Virginia. Vin¬ 
cennes welcomed the change of rule. Now the 
nearest hostile post was Detroit. 

The Results of the Occupation of Illinois. —Clark’s 
expedition had been a great success. The occupa¬ 
tion was easy. Three difficulties, however, faced 
him: his troops wanted to go home, the French 
villages must have some kind of government, and 
the British from Detroit might attack. 

Hamilton Takes Vincennes. —When the British 
commander at Detroit heard of the occupation of 
the Illinois country, he gathered French and In- 









STRUGGLE FOR THE MIDDLE WEST 57 


dians for a reconquest. In October Hamilton, the 
“Hair Buyer/’ 1 started out. It took him seventy- 
one days to reach Vincennes, but he had so large a 
force that the small garrison made no resistance, 
and the people of Vincennes swore allegiance to 
King George again. But secretly they were 
Americans. 

Vincennes Retaken.—Clark, who was still at 
Kaskaskia, could now do one of two things: retreat 
to Virginia, or fight Hamilton. Clark enlisted the 
French and Americans to make a surprise attack 
on Hamilton. Early in February Clark and his 
little band marched across country to Vincennes. 
Against the greatest difficulties Clark’s men made 
their way without supplies, wading through icy 
water most of the time, and finally entered Vin¬ 
cennes by fording the river breast-high. Hamilton 
surrendered. The Middle West was apparently 
won for the Americans, and the United States had 
begun its career of expansion. 

Why the British Gave Up the Mississippi Valley.— 
The slender hold the Americans had on this terri¬ 
tory amounted to little in the councils that drew 
the treaty of peace which closed the Revolutionary 
War. In fact the presence of Americans in the 
Mississippi Valley was never mentioned in the 
meetings of the men who wrote the treaty. It was 


1 He was called the ‘ ‘ Hair Buyer * ’ because he was reputed to have 
paid the Indians for bringing in the scalps of his enemies. 


58 


ILLINOIS 


purely a problem in profit and loss with Great 
Britain. The fur trade yielded fifty thousand 
pounds a year; Great Britain had spent eight hun¬ 
dred thousand pounds trying to keep it safe. The 
answer was easy: give up the territory. This is 
the reason the boundaries of the revolting colonies 
of Great Britain were extended to the Mississippi 
River. The legal claim of the Americans was now 
secure. But it was the American commissioners 
at this peace table—John Jay, John Adams, and 
Benjamin Franklin, not George Rogers Clark— 
who won the Middle West for the Americans. 

QUESTIONS 

1. From 1500 to 1700 what had France been trying to do? 

2. In the eighteenth century what change came to the plans of the 

French? 

3. What was the world prize in this struggle? 

4. What was the object in America? 

5. Name two Indian tribes on each side in this warfare. 

6. Why were the Indians sure to be losers, no matter which side won? 

7. What states of to-day were English possessions in 1700? 

8. What states of to-day were French territory in 1700? 

9. What was the chief business of the settlers in the Mississippi 

Valley in 1700? 

10. What was the ratio of French settlers to English settlers in 1700? 

11. What one thing done by the English alarmed the French to the 

fact that the Central West might be lost to them? 

12. Name two men noted in history who were interested in this contest. 

13. Why was Illinois drawn into the struggle? 

14. What event settled the fate of the Ohio Valley? 

EXERCISES 

1. Take an outline map of the United States and locate the rivers, 

forts, and towns mentioned in Chapter VI. 

2. On this same map trace the journey of George Eogers Clark. 


CHAPTER YII 


FROM THE REVOLUTION TO STATEHOOD 

Illinois County.—The inhabitants of the villages 
of the American Bottom were unhappy under the 
British rule, but they were far more unhappy under 
the rule of the county commandants of Virginia. 
The legislature of Virginia had set up the county 
of Illinois in 1778. 1 This was a very large county 
for it included all the land between the Ohio and 
the Mississippi, and gave it a northern boundary 
of which no one was very sure. Virginia sent out 
a commandant to rule the county. 2 He was to see 
that the officers necessary for the running of the 
villages were elected, that taxes were collected, that 
supplies for the soldiers were provided, and that 
the laws were obeyed. But many troubles arose. 

The French and the Americans.—In the first place, 
there were two classes of pioneers in the strictly 
Illinois part of the county, and these two classes of 
pioneers differed widely. The French were ad¬ 
venturers. They loved to explore, to hunt, to trap, 
to dance, to gamble, but not to work. The Vir¬ 
ginians wanted to build homes, to farm, to clear 
the land, and above all to own land. They were 
willing to work. The French had been trained for 

1 The 1 ‘ Illinois Country ’ ’ included the present states of Ohio, Indiana, 
Michigan, Wisconsin, and Illinois. 

2 Future Illinois remained a part of this vast county of Virginia until 
it became, in 1784, a part of the Northwest Territory. 

59 



In 1778 the state of Virginia 
embraced Virginia and West Vir¬ 
ginia of to-day, plus the present 
state (then county) of Kentucky. 



THE 

begin¬ 

nings 

OF 

THE 

STATE 

OF 

ILLINOIS 


In 1778 Illinois took a defi¬ 
nite place on the map as an 
enormous county. 



In 1800 Illinois was a part 
of Indiana Territory. Vin¬ 
cennes was the capital. 



In 1809 Illinois was at 
last a separate division with 
a local government of its 
own. Kaskaskia was the 
seat of the simple form of 
government. 








































FROM THE REVOLUTION TO STATEHOOD 61 



almost a century to respect the law, to take every 
dispute to a judge, and to obey the decisions of the 
court. The Americans cared little for law or 
judge, and were better 
satisfied to settle most 
disputes by personal 
combat. The French 
looked upon the In¬ 
dians as brothers, 
hunted with them, 
feasted with them, 
danced with them, and 
treated them as equals. 

The colonials looked 
upon the Indians as 
enemies, and were far 
more fond of dead In¬ 
dians than live ones. 

The French were Cath¬ 
olics ; the English fron¬ 
tiersmen were Protes¬ 
tants. In short, the 
French and English 
pioneers i n Illinois 
could not live together 
happily. 

Illinois Neglected.—The villages in the American 
Bottom no doubt would have had a happier history 
if they had not been left to themselves both by 


Shadrach Bond, Jr., 1773-1830 
First Governor of Illinois 
Shadrach Bond was elected, in 
1804, one of the three first repre¬ 
sentatives of Illinois in the lower 
house of the legislature of Indiana 
Territory. In .1807 he was chosen 
to represent Illinois in the council, 
or upper house. He was elected in 
1812, a delegate to Congress from 
Illinois Territory. The capital of 
Illinois was moved to Vandalia dur¬ 
ing his office as Governor. (From 
a painting in the collections of the 
Chicago Historical Society.) 


62 


ILLINOIS 


Virginia and by Congress. They were used to be¬ 
ing ruled by a commandant sent from Quebec or 
New Orleans who was backed by soldiers. Virginia 
did send a commandant, but no soldiers. Hence 


there was trouble 
enough. Three or four 
different parties arose; 
each tried to control, 
and each failed. There 
was, first, the French 
party of the oldest set¬ 
tlers ; second, the 
American faction that 
looked on the French 
as foreigners; then the 
British faction com¬ 
posed of well - to - do 
traders from Mackinac 
and Detroit; and fi- 



Arthur St. Clair 


First governor of the Northwest nally a religious STOUT) 
Territory. (Original in the col- _ “L ° ^ 

lections of Chicago Historical So- led by designing 

Ciety ‘ ) priests. Kaskaskiahad 

the most trouble, and was at times without a court 
of justice. Cahokia, on the other hand, was a leader 
in peace and quiet. All were glad when the gov¬ 
ernor of the Northwest Territory, Arthur St. Clair, 
arrived in 1790. 

The Land Question.—There were more important 
problems up for solution by Virginia and Conti- 







FROM THE REVOLUTION TO STATEHOOD 63 


nental Congress than the question of ruling the 
county of Illinois. There were other states than 
Virginia that had claims to the Illinois country. 
Massachusetts claimed part of the northern portion 
of the present state of Illinois by her charter. Vir¬ 
ginia had the widest claims both by her charter and 
by the conquest of George Rogers Clark. But 
there were states in the Confederation that had no 
claims. These maintained that they would be in 
an unfavorable position in the Confederation with 
other states holding such great territories, and re¬ 
fused to sign the Articles of Confederation. Mary¬ 
land led in this quarrel and kept up the fight until 
the states ceded to the national government all 
their claims in the Old Northwest. This left 
Illinois entirely under the control of Congress. 

Ordinance of 1787.—It took Congress a long time 
to decide on the kind of government for the North¬ 
west Territory. Jefferson and Monroe had much 
to do with the plans for ruling this great territory. 
Jefferson favored making a large number of small 
states, Monroe a few large states. Monroe said: 
“A great part of the territory is miserably poor, 
especially that near Lakes Michigan and Erie, and 
that upon the Mississippi and the Illinois consists 
of extensive plains which have not had, from ap¬ 
pearances, and will not have, a single bush on them 
for ages. The districts, therefore, within which 
these fall will perhaps never contain a sufficient 


64 


ILLINOIS 


number of inhabitants to entitle them to member¬ 
ship in the confederacy. ’ ’ So it was decided to 
limit the number of states to be carved from the 
Northwest Territory to not less than three and 
not more than five. The machinery of control was 
finally worked out, which resulted in one of the 
most far-reaching laws in the history of our coun¬ 
try. A governor, a secretary, and three judges 
were the chief officers. When there were five 
thousand free adult male whites in the territory, a 
lower house was to be elected by the people, and 
Congress was to appoint an upper house of five 
members. When the territory had sixty thousand 
persons, it could be admitted into the Union. Fur¬ 
thermore, trial by jury, writ of habeas corpus / and 
exclusion of slavery were written into this law. 

St. Clair County.—When the governor of the 
Northwest Territory came to Illinois in 1790, he 
set up St. Clair County. This county included 
a large part of the southern half of future Illinois. 
Courts were established, but no soldiers were 
present to enforce authority. The people of the 
American Bottom were not ready for self-govern- 

1 Habeas corpus. —Two Latin words meaning you have the body; i.e., 
that you (the one who has the prisoner in custody) have (or bring) the 
body (of the prisoner) before the judge who issued the writ immediately, 
for the purpose of finding out whether the prisoner is lawfully detained! 
The privilege of the writ of habeas corpus is one of the great rights of 
personal liberty. Several hundred years ago, those who had legal 
authority could put their enemies in jail and keep them there any length 
of time. To prevent this, an imprisoned person, under the privilege of 
the writ of habeas corpus, can bring his case at once to trial. The writ 
brings the accused person into court; it does not free him. 


FROM THE REVOLUTION TO STATEHOOD 65 

ment. Kaskaskia was jealous of Cahokia. Many 
crimes went unpunished. Officers were not faith¬ 
ful to their positions. Because of the disorders 
many people left the 
French villages and 
moved to the west side 
of the Mississippi. In 
1795 Governor St. 

Clair came to restore 
order. At that time he 
divided Illinois into 
two counties: Ran¬ 
dolph, on the south, 
with Kaskaskia a s 
county seat; and St. 

Clair, to the north, with 
Cahokia as its chief 
town. 

Illinois and the North¬ 
west Territory.— In 1798 
there were five thou¬ 
sand voters in the Old 
Northwest. An election 
was called and Illinois 
had the right to elect two—one from each county— 
to sit in the lower house or house of representatives 
at Cincinnati. But the people of Illinois were not 
happy over this, for it increased their expenses 
without giving them any advantages. They there- 



The First County in Illinois 
St. Clair County is over one 
hundred years old. It is far 
smaller to-day than it was in 1790. 
Most of the people of the Illinois 
Country lived in St. Clair County 
in 1790. 









66 


ILLINOIS 


fore petitioned to have the western part of the 
Northwest Territory made into a separate district. 

Illinois and the Indiana Territory. —This petition 
Congress granted, and in 1800 Illinois became a 



Chicago Historical Society 


William Henry Harrison, 1773-1841 
Ninth President of the United States 
HaTrison was the first secretary and first delegate to Congress of the 
Northwest Territory. He brought about the sale of small tracts of land 
to settlers. He was first governor of Indiana Territory. He made 
many treaties with the Indians by which he secured from them three 
million acres of land. His great exploits were the successful battle 
against the Indians at Tippecanoe, and the Battle of the Thames. 

part of Indiana Territory with the seat of govern¬ 
ment at Vincennes, and with Canada, the Missis¬ 
sippi, the Ohio, and a line north from the mouth of 
the Kentucky as boundaries. William Henry 




FROM THE REVOLUTION TO STATEHOOD 67 

Harrison was appointed governor of Indiana terri¬ 
tory. At this time Illinois had a population of 
twenty-five hundred, almost all of French descent. 

The Occupation of the Mississippi Valley.—The 
flood of immigration of English-speaking settlers 
reached Illinois early in the nineteenth century. 
The Ohio River was the chief highway of these 
newcomers. The table below shows the population 
in Illinois and three neighboring states. This wave 


reached Kentucky first, then Ohio, 
and by 1810 had come to Illinois. 

then Indiana, 

1790 

1800 

1810 

Kentucky.... 73,000 

222,000 

406,000 

Ohio. 

45,000 

230,000 

Indiana. 

2,500 

24,000 

Illinois. 

2,458 

12,282 

Illinois Grew Slowly.—There were 

many reasons 


for the slow growth of Illinois besides the fact that 
it was farther west than the others. Illinois is 
almost entirely a prairie country. This was a great 
drawback to the pioneer. He needed logs to build 
his house and barn; he needed firewood. The 
prairies did not attract him. The early settlements 
were along the rivers where there were trees and 
where the pioneer could transport what he needed 
and what he produced. In the next place, the coun¬ 
try was so level that there were many undrained 
places where there were mosquitoes without num- 




68 


ILLINOIS 


ber. These were carriers of malaria, and Illinois 
gained a reputation as an unhealthful country. 
But the greatest obstacle was the land trouble. If 
a settler found a favorable location, he was not 
sure he could hold it. Who had held it before him ? 
The Indians ? They were so ignorant that they did 
not know which lands were theirs. Congress had 
forbidden the settlement on lands not purchased 
from the Indians. A squatter was not sure he 
could hold the land he was living on. So he made 
few improvements. Not until the federal govern¬ 
ment bought the lands from the Indians and sold 
them to the settlers was there any security in titles 
to lands. It was after the War of 1812 before large 
tracts were opened by the government. 

Illinois Territory. —The Indiana Territory was 
hardly separated from the Northwest Territory 
before the people of Illinois wanted to be separated 
from Indiana. The American Bottom was a long 
way from the capital of the territory, and there 
was no direct route between them. The cry 
“Illinois for Illinoisians’’ went up. The trouble 
over land titles made many hope for the separation. 
Illinois had been neglected so long that over three 
fourths of the landholders in and near the Ameri¬ 
can Bottom had given up their lands and had 
moved across the Mississippi. When it was heard 
that Congress had appointed land commissioners 
to settle land titles, there was a scramble for land. 


FEOM THE REVOLUTION TO STATEHOOD 69 

Almost everybody had land claims or declared they 
had. If they did not have good claims they in- 



Ninian Edwards, 1775-1833 

Ninian Edwards, the leader of a strong group in the early days of 
Illinois, held many prominent positions: chief justice of the Court of 
Appeals of Kentucky, Governor of Illinois Territory (1809-1818), United 
States Senator from Illinois (1818-1824), and Governor of Illinois 
(1826-1830). 


vented claims, for the national government was the 
only one that could he cheated. The land com¬ 
missioners found that the prominent men of Illi¬ 
nois were guilty of land frauds, the land commis- 










70 


ILLINOIS 


sioners were friends of the governor, William 
Henry Harrison, and besides, the governor lived 
at Vincennes. The leading men of Illinois opposed 
Harrison for another reason. They claimed, on 
good grounds, that he gave Illinois men few ap¬ 
pointments. The best way out of trouble was to 
separate from Indiana and Vincennes. In 1809 
Illinois became a territory separate from Indiana. 
Its boundaries ran north to the borders of Canada, 
including all of Wisconsin and parts of northern 
Michigan and Minnesota. 

A Step Toward Democracy. —The people who 
moved into Illinois during the early years of the 
nineteenth century were progressive. The terri¬ 
torial governor, Ninian Edwards, was just as 
progressive. In 1812 the people voted quite unani¬ 
mously to become a territory of the second grade; 
that is, with a council, an assembly, and a repre¬ 
sentative in Congress. But a serious question arose 
as to who could vote to elect these officers, for the 
Ordinance of 1787 said only landowners could 
vote. Now almost all the men in Illinois were 
squatters, not landowners. An appeal was sent to 
Congress, and a law was passed which allowed 
adult males who had lived in the territory a year 
and paid a county or territorial tax the right to 
vote. No territory in the Union at this time had 
so democratic a privilege. 

The War of 1812.—Illinois in a short time felt 


FROM THE REVOLUTION TO STATEHOOD 71 



The Fort Dearborn Massacre Monument 
At Eighteenth Street, Lake Front, Chicago 

This commemorates the Indian attack, 1812, and particularly the suc¬ 
cessful feat of the Indian Chief Black Partridge of saving the life of 
Mrs. Helm and her child. 





72 


ILLINOIS 


the reverses that came to the country in the War 
of 1812. The fall of Detroit, due to the weakness 
of William Hull, was eclipsed by the bloody battle 



Fort Dearborn 

A picture of a model reproduced from the drawings of the fort at 
Washington. This fort occupied the site of the present London Guar¬ 
antee and Accident Building (see page 142). Notice how the high 
stockades are arranged so that an attacking party would be subjected 
to a concentrated fire from the blockhouses at the corners. The flag 
is in front of the officers ’ quarters, the ammunition magazine of stone 
is at the left of the officers ’ quarters, the warehouse for general supplies 
and provisions is across the court. The two buildings on the other 
sides of the court are the quarters of the soldiers. (Model owned by 
Chicago Historical Society.) 

of Fort Dearborn. Hull bad sent word, on bear¬ 
ing that Fort Mackinac bad been taken by tbe 
British, to abandon Fort Dearborn. On August 
15, 1812, tbe soldiers of tbe fort and tbe few set¬ 
tlers with tbeir families marched south along tbe 










FROM THE REVOLUTION TO STATEHOOD 73 


lake shore. At a point now Eighteenth Street (in 
Chicago) the Indians fired on them from behind 
the sand dunes. Men, women, and children were 
shot down, tomahawked, or made prisoners. Then 
the fort and buildings were burned. The Ameri¬ 
cans were swept from the region of the western 
lakes. Governor Edwards promptly organized 
companies of mounted militia and built a fort 
near the present town of Edwardsville, but many 
settlers deserted their homes for fear of Indian 
raids. A fort was built at Warsaw, opposite Keo¬ 
kuk. This and the fort at Peoria were the north¬ 
ern limits of the Illinois Territory during the 
war. 

The Treaty of Ghent.— Little did the fifteen thou¬ 
sand people who lived along the river banks of 
the extreme southern part of Illinois realize that 
in 1814 at Ghent the Englishmen, appointed to 
draft the terms of peace which closed the War 
of 1812, were instructed to set up all of Illinois, 
Wisconsin, Michigan, the lands beyond the Missis¬ 
sippi, and the northern part of Ohio as an Indian 
state, in which neither Great Britain nor the 
United States could purchase land. If that had 
been one of the terms of peace, the people of Illi¬ 
nois would have had to abandon their villages and 
farms, and the Middle West would have become 
the hunting grounds of the Indians. It was fortu¬ 
nate for Illinois that three such capable and intelli- 


74 


ILLINOIS 


gent men as John Quincy Adams, Henry Clay, 
and Albert Gallatin were there to represent the 
claims of our country. The arguments of these 
wise men and the important victory at Plattsburg, 
which kept the British from entering the Hudson 
Valley by the way of Lake Champlain, changed all. 



Henry Clay Albert Gallatin John Quincy Adams 

These three men prevented the British plan at the close of the War 
of 1812 of setting up the Northwest Territory as an Indian state from 
which all white men should be excluded. Their names are thereby linked 
with the rise of Illinois. (These reproductions are from originals in 
the possession of Chicago Historical Society.) 

When peace was declared, Illinois had as much 
territory as before. 

Illinois Becomes a State. —As soon as the 
war was over and the government began to sell 
land to the settlers, the population more than 
doubled. It must be remembered that the popula¬ 
tion was in the southern part of the state. Kas- 
kaskia, Shawneetown, and Edwardsville were the 





FROM THE REVOLUTION TO STATEHOOD 75 



chief towns, and Alton, East St. Louis, and Cairo 
were just being started. By 1817 most of the 
people in Illinois were newcomers, and these were 


not thinking about mak¬ 
ing Illinois a state. But 
there were a few men, 
led by Daniel P. Cook, 
who planned to have 
Illinois admitted into 
the Union. Governor 
Edwards recommended 
it to the legislature 
and the legislature peti¬ 
tioned Congress to grant 
an enabling act. In 
April, 1818, Congress 
passed and President 
Monroe signed the law 
“to enable the people of 
Illinois Territory to 
form a constitution and 
state government, and 
for admission of such 
state into the union .’ 7 
Nathaniel Pope, the ter¬ 
ritorial delegate in Con- 


Chicago Historical Society 

Daniel Pope Cook 

This man more than any other 
is responsible for the entrance of 
Illinois into the Union. There was 
no demand for statehood; he cre¬ 
ated it. He knew he would win 
political fame by it. His other 
great service to the state was his 
aid in securing the federal grant 
of land for the Illinois and Michi¬ 
gan Canal. This grant with the 
pledge of the credit of the state 
made it possible to build the canal. 
Cook County is named for him. 


gress, had the bill amended by two very wise pro¬ 
visions. The first was the extension of the northern 
boundary of the state from ten miles north of the 


76 ILLINOIS 

south end of Lake Michigan to forty-one miles 
north. This put Chicago well within the state and 
gave Illinois a broad ribbon of rich prairie land 
from Lake Michigan to the Mississippi. The 
second was to the benefit of education. When 
other states had entered the Union, Congress had 
set aside five per cent of 
the sale of public lands 
for the building of 
roads. Pope's amend¬ 
ment gave three fifths 
of this fund to educa¬ 
tion within the state. 
This was a new and very 
beneficial provision. 

A Padded Census.— 
The law of Congress 
which permitted the for¬ 
mation of a state pro- 

Chicago Historical Society yi^ed that there mUSt be 

Nathaniel Pope 40,000 1 people in the 

state. In June (1818) all the counties but Frank¬ 
lin had reported and there were only 35,000, but 
by August the census takers had made up a total 
of over 40,000 by having their enrolling officers 
stand at crossroads and count the people as they 
passed farther west or north to their new homes 

1 The Ordinance of 1787 named 60,000 as the number necessary for 
admission as a state, but. this was ignored when the bill for admission 
was drawn. 




FROM THE REVOLUTION TO STATEHOOD 77 



Population of Illinois, 1820 Population of Illinois, 1920 

□ less than 2 to sq. mi. Total area, 56,043. 

0 2 to 6 to sq. mi. Total population, 6,485,280. 

0 More than 6 to sq. mi. 

After Pease, Yol. II of Centennial History of Illinois. 


within the limits set for the state. In this way 
many people were counted more than once, but 
the total number was reached. 

The First State Constitution.—A month (in July) 
before the census returns showed the number 
necessary for her admission as a state, the elec¬ 
tion of delegates for framing the first constitution 
was held. In August these men met in Kaskas- 
kia, the census gave the territory over 40,000, and 


















78 


ILLINOIS 


the delegates at once drew up the simple constitu¬ 
tion under which the state was governed in its 
early years. Here in the heart of a wilderness 
a democratic government was born whose chief 
power was placed in the assembly elected by the 
free white male inhabitants. The governor had 
little power, for he was feared because the official 
who had brought so much trouble to the colonies 
on the Atlantic seaboard had been the governor. 

December 3, 1818, President Monroe signed the 
act of admission, and Illinois became the twenty- 
first state to join the Union. 

QUESTIONS 

1. The “Illinois Country’’ once included what states? 

2. How long was “Illinois” a county of Virginia? 

3. Name the two different classes in Illinois of that time. 

4. Tell three ways in which these classes were different. 

5. Wherein do “Virginians,” “Americans,” “colonials,” and 

“English frontiersmen” differ? 

6. Give one reason for the troublous times in the American Bottom 

during the time Congress controlled the territory. 

7. Name three states that claimed all or part of Illinois. 

8. What was Monroe’s prophecy on the Illinois country? 

9. Describe the government of the Northwest Territory. 

10. What three great rights were in the Ordinance of 1787? 

11. Who was the first governor of the Northwest Territory? 

12. Name the two early counties and the county seats. 

13. Why did it increase the expenses or taxes of the Illinois counties 

to send representatives to Cincinnati? 

14. What states of to-day were mostly in the Indiana Territory of 1800? 

15. Name three difficulties that kept Illinois from rapid growth. 

16. What important right did Congress grant the settlers of the 

Territory of Illinois? 

17. Tell of the part of Illinois in the War of 1812. 

18. Why should the citizens of Illinois be interested in the Treaty of 

Ghent ? 


CHAPTER VIII 


A PIONEER STATE 

The Population in 1818.—A map of Illinois of to¬ 
day which shows the density of population makes 
it clear that most of the people are in the 
northern half of the state. Not only the reverse 
was the fact when Illinois entered the Union, but 
also there were almost no white men in the state 
north of the present town of Hillsboro. The cen¬ 
tral and northern parts of the state were the 
haunts of the Indians—mostly Kickapoos, Sauks, 
Foxes, Potawatomi, and Winnebagoes. Even in 
1830, when the state had a population of over 
150,000, the Illinois River was really the northern 
boundary. In the first decade after Illinois be¬ 
came a state most of the inhabitants were in two 
groups on opposite sides of the southern part of 
the state—a larger group on the Mississippi, and 
a smaller colony along the lower reaches of the 
Wabash. The first and western center of popu¬ 
lation was attracted by the rich lands of the 
American Bottom; the eastern center was chiefly 
the result of the United States’ salt works in Gal¬ 
latin County. Of course no settlement was made 
in those early days unless it had at hand water, 
timber, and an easy mode of transportation. 
These the rivers always supplied. 

79 


80 


ILLINOIS 


The Spread of Population.—As the state grew in 
numbers, the population spread slowly along the 
rivers and up the navigable branches of the 
streams. The advent of the steamboat quickened 
this movement of the population; but the people 
still kept near the water courses, for fuel, water, 
building material, and transport were near at 
hand. Furthermore, the river route was the only 
connection with the outside world. The one ex¬ 
ception in early times was the outlet through Chi¬ 
cago, but there were few who cared to take the 
long and difficult road over the prairies and 
through the swamps to the little trading station 
on Lake Michigan. 

The Influence of the Steamboat.—Fulton’s inven¬ 
tion had a powerful influence on the history of 
Illinois. In 1807 the Clermont was on the Hud¬ 
son; in 1811 the New Orleans was on the Ohio; 
in 1822 the first steamboat called at Galena; and 
in 1829 the first steamboat reached Peoria. The 
day of the flatboat, with its trip, months long, was 
gone. The steamboat could make the voyage to 
New Orleans in a few days. This rapid and 
cheaper means of transport developed Illinois very 
fast. Settlements sprang up in every part of the 
state accessible to river ports; and the population 
grew and spread along every river to the head of 
navigation. 

Cheap and Fertile Land.—The fertile prairies of 


A PIONEER STATE 


81 


Illinois are the source of the greatest influence on 
her history. These rich lands invited the settlers 
from the East and from Europe. The seaboard 
states complained again and again that the West 
was robbing them of their farmers and laborers. 
Changes in the western land policy by Congress 
hastened the westward movement. At first, Con¬ 
gress looked upon the unsettled western lands as 
a source of income and sold only to large pur¬ 
chasers. After 1800 the government sold tracts 
as small as 320 acres at two dollars an acre. In 
1820 a settler could buy eighty acres from the gov¬ 
ernment for one hundred dollars. This made good 
land so cheap that almost everybody wanted to own 
his own farm and to be independent. The secret 
of the western wave of population was cheap and 
fertile prairie land. 

Settlement in the North Differed from that of the 
South.—The coming of settlers to northern Illinois 
differed in many ways from the settling of the 
southern part of the state. Most of the people who 
came to southern Illinois were from the south; 
those of northern Illinois were from the north and 
the east. Southern Illinois was settled slowly; 
northern Illinois very rapidly. Those who came 
to southern Illinois came by boat; they came 
mostly by wagon and railroad to northern Illinois. 
The settlers of southern Illinois came one by one 
and family by family; the most of the northern 


82 


ILLINOIS 


Illinois settlers came in colonies or caravans. The 
early pioneers of southern Illinois felled a few 
trees, girdled others, grubbed out the underbrush, 
and planted a few acres; the farmer of the north 
turned over the prairie sod and always had a larger 
acreage under tillage. In the settlement of the 
south, at least three distinct waves or groups of 
people came. First, the squatter who made a small 
clearing, raised a rude hut, planted enough to fur¬ 
nish his family with some provisions, but hunted 
and trapped for his chief store of supplies. He 
had no legal right or title to the land. When his 
hunting grounds became settled, he sold for what 
he could get, and moved farther west where he 
would have plenty of room. Next came the settler 
who bought the squatter rights or purchased from 
the government, built a good log house, raised 
stock, cultivated larger fields every year, and 
planned to stay. When the land was well settled, 
the capitalist class came, and thus bankers, mer¬ 
chants, and manufacturers aided the development 
of the state. In the north, the three waves came 
almost at the same time and passed over northern 
Illinois during the first half of the nineteenth cen¬ 
tury. 

Early Chicago.—Chicago is the most important 
geographical crossroads of the Middle West. The 
Indians as they traveled west and east passed over 
the present site of the great city. The French fur 


A PIONEER STATE 


83 


traders and trappers were passing through the 
Chicago portage at frequent intervals. Marquette 
found this crossroads in his missionary journeys. 
His was the first white man’s dwelling (1674) 
within the present limits of the city. It cannot be 
proved that there were white men living there from 
that time to this, but there were no long periods in 
which white men could not be found at this gate¬ 
way of the north and the west. • For one hundred 
fifty years after Marquette’s time, Chicago was 
at times a fort, at others a warehouse, again a trad¬ 
ing station, hut always a junction point in the 
wilderness. From the time of the Fort Dearborn 
Massacre to the Black Hawk War, Chicago was a 
sleepy little village. After the coming of the 
steamboat, Chicago began to grow rapidly. 

Important Towns of Early Illinois.— For over one 
hundred years and before Illinois became a state, 
Kaskaskia was the largest and most important 
town. Here the constitutional convention (1818) 
met and framed the first constitution of the state, 
and here the first state assembly met in the home 
of a prominent citizen, and named Vandalia as the 
capital of the state. Shawneetown and Edwards- 
ville were among the older settlements. Illinois- 
town (East St. Louis), Alton, and Cairo were 
places of some importance just before Illinois 
joined the Union. Of these towns, Alton gave 
promise of being the most important. It was not 


84 ILLINOIS 

until 1835 that Chicago had any hope of ranking 
with these cities, but another ten years decided the 
contest. 



This building was used by the territorial legislature-. It is not cer¬ 
tainly known whether the first governor of Illinois, Shadrach Bond, took 
the oath of office here. 


State Capitals.—The first state constitution was 
written in Kaskaskia, which for a century and 
more had been the chief settlement in the country 
now known as Illinois. Real estate agents with an 
eye to big returns made proposals to the first state 
legislature of free sites for the capitol building. 
These were all on the Kaskaskia River, then the 









A PIONEER STATE 85 

main artery of trade. The legislature finally de¬ 
cided that the state treasury should profit by the 
location of the capital and chose Vandalia, eighty 
miles up the Kaskaskia River and at that time ah 


Old State House 

After the capital was moved to Springfield, 1839, this capitol building 
was erected. It was used as the state house until 1876, when the state 
offices were moved into the present capitol. Since 1876 it has been the 
Court House of Sangamon County. (From an original in the collections 
of Chicago Historical Society.) 

uninhabited wilderness. Here the state sold lots 
to a total of $35,000, and here for twenty years was 
the seat of the state government. After over six 
years of strife in the legislature, the Sangamon 
County delegates, known as the “Long Nine,” of 
whom Lincoln was one, finally carried (1838) the 









86 ILLINOIS 

vote for Springfield. Since 1839 Springfield has 

been the state capital. 

Early Transportation.— In the early days, in Illi¬ 
nois, goods were transported only in two ways: by 



Chicago Historical Society 

State House, Yandalia 

The first State House at Yandalia was destroyed by fire. The second 
was used until 1836, when it was displaced by the one above. This is 
really the fourth capitol building. 


boat or by wagon. Only a small fraction was car¬ 
ried by wagons. The settlement of early Illinois 
depended on its rivers. As the population grew, 
it ascended the main branches of the, large rivers. 
No farmer or merchant would locate far from a 
navigable stream, for that was his only route to 
the outside world. In fact, the nearest place where 




A PIONEER STATE 


87 


lie could sell his produce Was New Orleans. When 
Louisiana was under French or Spanish rule, New 
Orleans was likely at any time to be closed against 
Americans. After the Louisiana Purchase was 
made, a market and outlet for the Middle West was 



Photograph by Phil E. Church 

The Kaskaskia River 

An historic river of Illinois. On this river have been two state capitals. 


secured. Although the pioneer farmer was on or 
near a river, he was far from market. With no 
place to dispose of his produce, many a farmer 
decided that he would be his own merchant. That 
meant that he must build a flat-bottomed boat, load 
it with grain, smoked meat, or hides, and with the 
assistance of a few Negroes float down the rivers 
to New Orleans. There he would usually be cheated 




88 


ILLINOIS 


or have to sell at so low a price that he never 
wanted to make the trip again. Besides this dis¬ 
couragement, he had a long and perilous journey 
home. A trip like this took six or eight months. 
The coming of the steamboat was a wonderful help 
to the farmers and merchants of Illinois. But the 
population still clung to the watercourses. Not 
until wagon roads were made and railroads built 
were the prairies settled. The early wagon roads 
were along Indian trails and buffalo paths. In 
dry weather they were usable; in wet weather they 
were impassable. Few settlements were made at 
any distance from the rivers until after 1850. 

The Last War with the Indians.—Black Hawk Leads 
a Band of Sauks. —The federal government bought 
very large tracts of land from the Indians by pay¬ 
ing them a small amount each year for a long term 
of years. Usually this annual payment was made 
in goods—cloth, shoes, firearms, and trinkets. In 
1804, at St. Louis, William Henry Harrison plied 
five Fox and Sauk chiefs with whisky, and while 
they were too drunk to know what they were do¬ 
ing, he persuaded them to sell fifty million acres, 
lying between the Illinois and Mississippi and ex¬ 
tending into Missouri, Iowa, and Wisconsin, for 
an allowance of one thousand dollars a year 1 in 
goods. Although the Indian chiefs, when sober, 
always denied that they had signed away their 

1 The treaty reads ‘ 1 yearly and every year. ’ ’ 



A PIONEER STATE 89 

lands, the central government held that the sale 
was genuine. The Indians did not object much to 


Special permission of Newberry Library, Chicago 
Black Hawk 

The Indian who spread terror in northern Illinois in the early thirties 
of the last century. There were few settlers left in the north half of 
the state after the raids of his bands of warriors were over. A few 
whites were killed, the most fled. (From McKenney and Hall Collection 
of North American Indians.) 

the settlement of these lands by the whites, but as 
the years went on, the frontiersmen bought of the 
government the lands on which was located the In- 





90 ILLINOIS 

dian village which was the chief seat of the tribal 
government. Near were their fields and their an¬ 
cient burial grounds. It was the garden spot of the 
tract. Keokuk, a wise chief of the Sauks, recog- 


Looking Down Rock River from Black Hawk ’s Watch Tower 
The tower was the top of a high bank at the edge of Rock River 
where Black Hawk liked to sit and ponder on the past and future of 
the Indian. From this height are fine views both up and down Rock 
River. In the distance are the bluffs of the Mississippi in Iowa. (Photo¬ 
graph obtained through the kindness of John H. Hauberg, Rock Island.) 

nizing that the whites would not retreat, took the 
larger portion of his tribe to their lands on the 
west of the Mississippi; but Black Hawk influenced 
a portion of his tribe to remain in their ancient 
village on the north side of Rock River not far 
from Rock Island. 




A PIONEER STATE 


91 


The First Clash, 1831.— Finally the settlers bought 
the burial grounds and choice fields of the Indians 
and ordered Black Hawk’s followers to the west 
side of the Mississippi. The Indians turned on 
the whites, “ threw down their fences, turned 
horses into their cornfields, stole their potatoes, 
and leveled deadly weapons at the citizens.” The 
settlers hastily left and petitioned the governor 
for aid. The state was declared invaded; volun¬ 
teers were called, and an army of six hundred 
militia and one thousand federal troops were soon 
marching to Rock River Valley. The Indians, 
knowing that they could not cope with this force, 
deserted their ancient homeland, and withdrew to 
Iowa.* Black Hawk agreed to the treaty of 1804 
and promised never to cross the Mississippi again. 

The War Renewed.— If Black Hawk had kept his 
word, it would have been a bloodless war. But 
Black Hawk decided he would raise a crop of corn 
farther up in the valley of Rock River, so early 
in the spring of 1832 about one thousand Indians 
crossed the Mississippi and journeyed up Rock 
River Valley to Prophetstown. They were ordered 
back, but Black Hawk said that their errand was 
peaceable and refused to return to Iowa. The set¬ 
tlers were alarmed, the state flew to arms, and over 
sixteen hundred volunteers, thinking it would be 
an outing full of fun, marched to turn back the 
Indians. By the middle of May Black Hawk, then 



92 ILLINOIS 

near Byron (Ogle County), saw his mistake. He 
decided to ask permission to return to Iowa, and 
sent three of his braves to arrange an armistice. 
But before the parley began, there came a dishon- 


Photograph by Phil £1. Church 

Black Hawk 

The famous statue of a bad Indian by a noted sculptor, Lorado Taft. 
This is not a likeness of Black Hawk; it is an artistic idea of a bad 
Indian trying to look good. It is near Oregon. ' 

orable violation of a sacred rule of war in an attack 
by the whites; then followed the sudden stand of 
a few Indians, the shock of defeat, the flying re¬ 
treat of the Illinois militia, the Indian pursuit, and 



A PIONEER STATE 


93 


the capture of supplies of the whites. The success 
of this engagement (Stillman’s Run) gave Black 
Hawk the hope that he could drive the whites out 
of Rock River Valley. 

Border Warfare.— Black Hawk and his followers 
were elated over their victory at Stillman’s Run. 
Immediately the state from Chicago to Galena and 
from the Illinois to Mississippi was plunged into 
terror. Marauding bands of Indians scoured the 
northern prairies, leaving burned homes, desolated 
fields, and murdered settlers in their path. Two 
hundred whites were cut down in May and June 
of this year. A new call for volunteers went out. 
Michigan sent help and federal troops came; soon 
four thousand men were in the field. The waver¬ 
ing Potawatomi and Winnehagoes took heed, and 
Black Hawk with his band was alone in the cam¬ 
paign. 

Wisconsin Heights.— The militia slowly pressed in 
upon the Indians who retreated north and west¬ 
ward into Wisconsin and toward the Mississippi. 
The retreat was through swamps and over rough 
wooded country with thick underbrush. Progress 
was slow, for the whites had to explore as they 
went. The Indians went more slowly, weakened 
by hunger and delayed by old men, women, and 
children. At the Wisconsin River opposite Prairie 
du Sac the militia, by a forced march, came upon 
the Indians. Black Hawk sent fifty of his war- 


94 ILLINOIS 

riors to hold the militia in check, so as to allow his 
people to cross the river. A thirty minutes’ en¬ 
gagement took place, and although the Indians re¬ 
treated to the river, the whites did not follow. 
Some of the Sauks took to boats and rafts and 
floated down the Wisconsin. The rest made their 
way slowly westward to the Mississippi. It was 
a victory for Black Hawk, for he kept hack a 
larger force while his people crossed the Wiscon¬ 
sin. After this battle Black Hawk again asked 
for a chance to surrender, but no heed was paid to 
his request. 

Bad Axe.— The Indians must gain the Missis¬ 
sippi, eighty miles beyond, to be in safety. One 
by one the starving children, the old, and the infirm 
dropped from the retreating column as they made 
their march through the swamps and heavily 
wooded hills. When Black Hawk and the rem¬ 
nants of his tribe were preparing to cross the Mis¬ 
sissippi, the steamboat Warrior with federal troops 
aboard approached. Black Hawk raised the white 
flag and asked for a boat so that he could go aboard 
and surrender. But the commander of the steam¬ 
boat gave the Indians fifteen minutes to make 
ready for battle and then attacked them with can¬ 
non and musketry. Twenty-five Indians fell, with 
no loss to the whites. The Illinois militia under 
General Henry, and the regulars with General 
Atkinson in command, the next day attacked Black 


A PIONEER STATE 


95 


Hawk’s band, and before the battle of Bad Axe 
was over, one hundred fifty Indians were killed 
and fifty women and children were taken prisoners. 
Those who crossed the Mississippi were treacher¬ 
ously attacked by the Sioux, so that of the one 
thousand who had crossed the river four months 
before, only one hundred fifty reached safety in 
Iowa with the Indian Chief Keokuk. Black 
Hawk, as a prisoner, was taken to President Jack- 
son, who released him in June, 1833, to spend his 
remaining years with the fragments of his tribe 
west of the Mississippi. Trouble with the Indians 
in Illinois was over for all time. 

Internal Improvements.—No Market for Farm Prod¬ 
ucts.— Very soon after the Black Hawk War, set¬ 
tlers from the northeastern states by the way of 
the Erie Canal and the lakes began to come to 
northern Illinois. The rich prairie land yielded 
bountiful crops, but because manufactures were not 
developed in the state, there was no market for the 
produce of the farms. By the bushel corn brought 
ten cents; wheat, twenty-five cents; potatoes, fif¬ 
teen to eighteen cents; beef sold at three cents a 
pound; pork at two cents; and butter at five and 
six cents. It was necessary not only to go outside 
the state, but to go a long way beyond to find a 
market. 

Canals.— The example of New York State im¬ 
pressed the people of Illinois. The Erie Canal had 


96 


ILLINOIS 


advanced New York greatly. If the Illinois River 
waterway could be extended to Chicago, a highway 
of commerce would traverse the central portion of 
the state. The Illinois congressmen tried again 
and again to obtain federal aid. Finally in 1827 
Congress gave one half the land on the canal to 
a depth of five miles, or some three hundred thou¬ 
sand acres, to aid in its construction. The state 
legislature from 1821 to 1835 passed hill after bill 
to aid this water route, but not one of them helped 
very much, for they did not produce the money to 
dig the canal. At a special session in 1835 the 
credit of the state was pledged, canal stock was 
sold, and thus money was raised to construct this 
inland waterway. The canal was to run from Chi¬ 
cago to the mouth of the Little Vermilion River. 
This canal would benefit the country adjacent to 
the Illinois River and the canal, but it would not 
help the other parts of the state, so it was felt that 
it was just to make other internal improvements 
so that all parts of the state would enjoy the bene¬ 
fits of cheap routes to market. 

The Craze for Internal Improvements.—Charters 
for canals and railroads were hastily granted and 
a bill was soon passed to aid all these improve¬ 
ments with state support. If these improvements 
had been carried through, a network of canals 
and railroads would have resulted that would have 
left few counties untouched. It was a grand plan 


A PIONEER STATE 


97 


to develop every part of Illinois at one time. The 
project was too big. The State Bank of Illinois 
furnished more money than it should; money was 
borrowed in New York until no more could be had 
there, and then the agents of Illinois went to Lon¬ 
don, but still there was not enough. 

The Air Castle Falls.—Capitalists refused to loan 
because they could not see how they were to get 
their money back. The bubble burst. The state 
could not pay the interest on the bonds, no more 
money could be obtained, and all work stopped on 
the railroads and canals. The state was bankrupt. 
All the money invested in the improvements was 
lost. When the excitement was over and the cost 
was computed, Illinois was in debt over fifteen mil¬ 
lion dollars, with nothing to meet the obligations. 
Illinois was then known as “the ruined state.’’ 
The dream of being the railroad center of the con¬ 
tinent was over. 

A Way Out.—Many plans were proposed for re¬ 
lief. The one favored by a larger number was to 
refuse to pay any debts—repudiation. Thomas 
Ford, just elected (1842) governor of the state, in 
wise words pointed the way out: “We must con¬ 
vince our creditors and the world that the disgrace 
of repudiation is not countenanced. We will tax 
ourselves according to our ability to pay our 
debts.” The state legislature followed this advice 
and provided ways for the gradual payment of this 


98 


ILLINOIS 


indebtedness. The state debt at the close of Gov¬ 
ernor Ford’s term (1846) had been reduced one 
half. He also urged the completion of the Illinois 
and Michigan Canal. The money was finally se¬ 
cured and the canal was completed in 1848. A wise 

man had led the people 
of Illinois to a sane so¬ 
lution of their difficul¬ 
ties and had saved the 
good name of the state. 

The Illinois and Michi¬ 
gan Canal a Success.— 
As soon as the canal 
was completed, a great 
change came over the 
adjacent territory. 
Peru, La Salle, Ottawa, 
Joliet, and Lockport 
grew rapidly. Chicago 
profited most, for all 
trade—east and west, 
north and south—cen¬ 
tered there. Prosper¬ 
ity came to the whole 
canal territory, for im¬ 
ported articles fell in price, while the value of ex¬ 
ports rose. The canal tolls the first year were 
eighty-eight thousand dollars. There was no longer 
any doubt that the canal would pay. The plan of 



Thomas Ford 

Governor of Illinois (1842-1846) 
during the Mormon troubles. He 
was at one time a judge of the 
Circuit Court and later of the Su¬ 
preme Court of the state. His sup¬ 
port brought the Illinois and Michi¬ 
gan Canal to completion. He was 
in life-long pursuit of public office, 
but at the close of his career wrote 
that 11 the play is not worth the 
candle. ’ 1 



A PIONEER STATE 99 

Joliet, a century and three quarters before, was a 
success. Before the railroads, with their more 
rapid transportation, drove the canal out of busi¬ 
ness, the canal had paid for itself. 

The Illinois Central Railroad. —Out of the many 
railroad charters granted in the rush for internal 
improvements in 1836-1837 came the plan for a 
railroad from Cairo to La Salle, thus connecting 
the southern part of the state with the Illinois and 
Michigan Canal. In 1850 Congress granted over 
two and a half million acres of land for the con¬ 
struction of this road; and in 1851 the state legis¬ 
lature placed the federal grant and the construc¬ 
tion of the road in the hands of a private company 
with a provision that seven per cent of the gross 
receipts annually were to be paid into the state 
treasury. Here was to be the longest railroad in 
the Union. Its branches were to connect Chicago 
and Galena with the main line. By 1856 this rail¬ 
road, with the branch from La Salle to Galena 
and from Galena to Chicago, was completed. To¬ 
day the main line is no longer from Cairo to La 
Salle, but runs from Chicago through Champaign 
and Mattoon to Centralia, and thence south on the 
old main line to Cairo and on to New Orleans. 
The railroad still pays the seven per cent into the 
state treasury. 

Other Railroads. —The ten years from 1850 to 1860 
saw great changes in transportation. In 1850 


100 ILLINOIS 

there were one hundred miles of railroad in Illi¬ 
nois; a fifty-mile line from Springfield to Naples 
on the Illinois River, and forty-three miles of road 
from Chicago to Elgin on the Fox River, with con¬ 
necting lines to Geneva and to Aurora. Many of 
the important railway lines of to-day had their be¬ 
ginnings in this decade; the Rock Island, the Bur¬ 
lington, the Alton, the St. Paul, the North-West¬ 
ern, as well as the Illinois Central ran their first 
trains in this period of ten years. By 1860 there 
were almost twenty-nine hundred miles of railroad 
in the state. Illinois had constructed in this 
decade more miles of railway than any other state, 
and more than Iowa, Wisconsin, and Michigan to¬ 
gether. 

The Result of the Internal Improvements.— The 

prosperity and greatness of the state came as a 
result. In 1850 the prairies remote from the navi¬ 
gable waterways were almost uninhabited; in 1860 
the population was over twice that in 1850. The 
effect on produce was greater still; corn rose from 
ten to forty cents, potatoes from fifteen to thirty- 
five cents, pork from two to six cents, and wheat 
from twenty-five cents to a dollar and twenty-five 
cents. Farm lands rose rapidly in value, towns 
sprang up along the railroads, and drowsy villages 
became wide-awake cities. Terminal towns, like 
Galena, Quincy, Alton, and Chicago, prospered 
most. 


A PIONEER STATE 


101 


QUESTIONS 

1. Compare the northern with the southern population in 1818. 

2. Why were rivers so important in those early days? 

3. What invention had great influence on the growth of Illinois? 

4. Compare the price of land in 1800 with that of to-day. 

5. Tell of three ways in which northern and* southern Illinois differed. 

6. From about what year did Chicago grow rapidly? 

7. Name and locate the important towns of early Illinois. 

8. Name and locate the three capital cities. 

9. Tell how the steamboat changed marketing. 

10. Sketch the Black Hawk War. 

11. Why do factories make a market for farm products? 

12. Compare prices of to-day with those of a century ago. 

13. What two plans raised the money to dig the Illinois and Michigan 

Canal? 

14. How did the making of this canal lead to other improvements? 

15. Why were canals and railroads given up? 

16. Why was Illinois called a “ruined state”? 

17. Tell of the plan that was followed and give credit to the man who 

saved the state. 

18. What cities were affected by the opening of the canal? 

19. Tell two outstanding facts regarding the Illinois Central Railroad. 

20. Why does the prosperity of the state depend on railroads? 

EXERCISES 

1. Draw an outline map of Illinois and locate the towns mentioned 

in Chapter VIII. 

2. Draw an outline map of Illinois and locate: 

a. The Illinois and Michigan Canal. 

b. The original line of the Illinois Central Railroad from Cairo 

through Carbondale, Centralia, Vandalia, Pana, Decatur, 
and Bloomington to La Salle. 

c. Locate the railroads of 1850. 


CHAPTER IX 


THE MORMONS 

The Holy City of Illinois.— Illinois is one of the 
few states of the Union that has had a sacred city. 1 
On the Mississippi, about forty miles north of 
Quincy, is Nauvoo, which for almost ten years was 
the holy city of the Mormons, or Latter Day Saints. 
Here in 1838, driven first from New York, then 
from Ohio, and finally from Missouri, came a horde 
of religious fanatics who, almost in a day, built 
the town of Nauvoo of fifteen thousand people. 
At that time it was the largest city in the state, 
with Alton second, and Chicago third. 

Joseph Smith, Founder of the Mormons.— The 
founder of this religion was Joseph Smith. When 
he was eighteen years of age his family was living 
at Palmyra, New York. At that time he had heav¬ 
enly visions in which angels showed him plates of 
stone on which were written revelations from God. 
When he was twenty-two, he proclaimed that some 
twenty gold plates inscribed with ancient writings 
were intrusted to his care. These, by revelations 
from on High, he translated, and so learned that 
he was to establish a new religion. In 1830 he 
founded the Church of the Latter Day Saints. 

1 Zion City can also be placed in this class. 

102 


THE MORMONS 


103 


Mormon Beliefs Were Very Unpopular.— The Mor¬ 
mon Church had some very queer beliefs. Some 
of its teachings made its followers very unpopular. 
First, they believed that all the wealth in the world 
belonged to them and would finally come into their 
hands. They taught that they were the chosen 
people. Second, they would not allow their mem¬ 
bers to have anything to do with the people of 
other beliefs. They were clannish. Third, they 
believed that Adam was the chief God, and that 
Mohammed, Christ, Joseph Smith, and Brigham 
Young were lesser gods. It was not a Christian 
sect. Fourth, they had a belief that the dead could 
be baptized and thus become good Mormons. In 
accordance with this notion they baptized many of 
the great men of American history and proclaimed 
them Mormons. In this way they tried to make 
people believe that Washington and Franklin were 
Mormons. These teachings did not make the Mor¬ 
mons welcome in any community. To see this rap¬ 
idly growing sect, that planned in time to own all 
property, that set itself apart as holier and more 
religious than others, that degraded and disgraced 
the Christ, and that dishonored the great men in 
American history, made almost everybody turn 
with hatred against it. 

The Mormons Were Driven from Place to Place.— 

In, no community were the Mormons wanted as 
neighbors. They moved from place to place in 


104 


ILLINOIS 


New York, then to Kirtland, Ohio. Later they went 
to Missouri, where they stayed but a short time. 
There the frontiersmen gave them the roughest 
kind of treatment, driving them pell-mell across 
the Mississippi into Illinois. In 1838 they were 
quietly settled at Nauvoo. 

The Mormons Prospered in Illinois. —Their settle¬ 
ment grew rapidly in numbers and in wealth. They 
sent missionaries not only throughout the United 
States but even to the Old World. Many converts 
came flocking to Illinois. Other communities be¬ 
sides Nauvoo were built up as Mormon centers. 
Their charter from the state legislature gave them 
unusual powers. They really set up a state within 
a state. An army, called the Nauvoo Legion, was 
raised and drilled, strict laws enforcing temper¬ 
ance were passed, and heavy fines for insults to 
the Church were enforced. The power and wealth 
of Mormonism was sobn felt throughout the state. 

The Power and Ambition of Joseph Smith.— Smith 
was head and chief of all. He was commander-in¬ 
chief of the army, mayor of the city, head of the 
Church, and president of Nauvoo University. 
Revelations from Heaven to Smith directed all af¬ 
fairs, sent missionaries abroad, appointed men as 
assistants, pointed out sites of the Temple and of 
Nauvoo House, where Smith was to live and have 
board free, and even put him in nomination for 
the presidency of the United States. 


THE MORMONS 


105 


Troubles Come to Smith and the Mormons.— But 

there were teachings of these Latter Day Saints 
that were not religious, and there were practices 
that worked against the prosperity of the Mor¬ 
mons. Their belief that literally they “ should in- 



Photograph by Phil E. Church 

Nauvoo 


The mansion of Joseph Smith is still well preserved and in use to-day. 
In 1844 it was looked upon as palatial. Nauvoo is one of the Illinois 
towns that has no railroad, yet it was once one of the largest towns 
of the state. 

herit the earth” and that they “should rule a king¬ 
dom” aroused the jealousy of all their neighbors 
and brought alarm to good citizens everywhere. 
Then Joseph Smith had a revelation that he and 
others should have several wives. This brought a 
storm of resentment. Finally, in 1844, Smith de¬ 
cided to run as a candidate for President of the 
United States. It was clear that the Mormons not 






106 ILLINOIS 

only planned to rule Illinois but hoped to control 
the nation. Cities near Nauvoo, led by Warsaw 
and Carthage, began active demonstrations against 
the Mormons. They issued a call to arms not only 
to Illinois towns but to the neighboring districts of 
Missouri and Iowa. The response was prompt; 
several hundred anti-Mormons were soon in the 
field. A warrant was issued charging Smith with 
rioting and later with treason. He and his brother 
Hyrum gave themselves up and were placed in jail 
at Carthage. Three days later a mob entered the 
jail; in the fight that ensued the brothers were 
killed. 

Brigham Young Led the Mormons to Utah.—A capa¬ 
ble leader in Brigham Young then seized the presi¬ 
dency of the Church. Under this “-prophet” the 
Temple at Nauvoo was completed and dedicated. 
But he could not control the hatred against his 
sect. Mass meetings in neighboring towns de¬ 
nounced the Mormons, and mobs threatened to de¬ 
stroy their property. The state legislature took 
away their charter. The Mormons armed in de¬ 
fense, and a civil war was carried on in Hancock 
County. Finally the Mormons agreed to leave the 
state, but the threats and demonstrations of the 
anti-Mormons did not cease until in 1846 the hated 
sect began to depart. They assembled first at 
Council Bluffs, Iowa, and then marched in mili¬ 
tary order across the plains to Utah, where they 


THE MORMONS 107 

were far from persecution. Nauvoo became the 
quiet and unimportant town it is to-day. 

QUESTIONS 

1. What two so-called sacred cities has Illinois had? 

2. How long were the Mormons in Illinois? 

3. In what states have the Mormons dwelt? 

4. Show four reasons for the people disliking the Mormons. 

5. What two men were Mormon leaders? 

6. What is their chief city to-day? 


CHAPTER X 

SLAVERY 

Its Beginning in America.—Columbus and bis 
Spaniards made slaves of some of tbe red inhabi¬ 
tants they found in their discoveries. But the 
Spaniards soon found that Indian slaves were poor 
workmen; consequently Indian slavery gradually 
disappeared. Indentured whites were found in 
almost all of the colonies, but neither red men nor 
white men were hardy enough to stand the heat of 
the South or the hard labor in the mines, and so 
African blacks were brought to America. At first 
they were indentured only, but soon Negro laboi 
proved so profitable that temporary servitude was 
changed to continual slavery. 

In Early Illinois.—Negro and Indian slaves are 
found in the early settlements of Illinois. In 1720 
Phillipe Francois Renault/ director general of 
mines for the Company of the Indies, came to Illi¬ 
nois and opened a lead mine across the Missis¬ 
sippi. 2 He brought with him miners and Negro 
laborers. Twenty-five Negroes were sent to him 
each year. Illinois, at this time a district of 
Louisiana, received most of its settlers from the 
South, and these usually brought slaves with them. 
As in the other colonies, Indian slavery disap- 

1 ‘ ‘ Renault ’ ’ (Ren-no). 

2 In Missouri near the Meramec River. 

108 


SLAVERY 


109 


peared because it was unprofitable, but Negro slav¬ 
ery increased. In 1732 one in five in the French 
settlements in the American Bottom were Negro 
slaves. The scarcity of labor made the use of slaves 
quite necessary. By the time of the British occu¬ 
pation (1765) there were perhaps five hundred 
slaves in a population of fifteen hundred. Slav¬ 
ery was undisturbed during the British rule, and 
so the institution was well established in Illinois 
when the Old Northwest was ceded to the United 
States. 

Slavery in Territorial Times.—Virginia in 1784 
made over her claims on the Illinois country to the 
federal government. The Ordinance of 1787, which 
was in reality a constitution of the Old Northwest 
Territory, forbade slavery in that district forever. 
This caused much alarm in Illinois until the gov¬ 
ernor announced that this did not free the present 
slaves, but only prevented settlers from bringing 
slaves into the territory. From this time on in¬ 
dentured Negroes were brought into the Illinois 
country in considerable numbers, and in the early 
years of the nineteenth century many laws were 
passed in regard to these unfree Negroes. These 
laws with later additions are known as the Black 
Code and were in force until 1865. 

The Black Code.—All Negroes under fifteen years 
of age who were indentured must serve, if males, 
to the age of thirty-five; if females, till thirty-two. 


110 


ILLINOIS 


Children of the blacks in service could be bound 
out; the boys until thirty, the girls to twenty-eight. 
Terms of the contracts had to be registered with 
the county clerk. The registers of the county clerk 
show that indentured Negroes were in reality slaves 
for life. Note the following from the Madison 
County records: 

1815, October 23, Sam, Aged 15, bound to serve 50 years 

1817, May 12, Willis, “ 16, “ “ “ “ “ 

1817, November 6, Peter, “ 17, “ “ “ 99 “ 

1818, May 12, Sarah, “ 19, “ “ “ 90 “ 

1818, June 29, Milly, “ 16, " “ “ 45 r ‘ 

One of the laws provided that Negroes could be 
transferred if their consent was obtained. But 
this law was violated, and Negro slaves were sold 
and bequeathed like any other property. Here is 
a copy of an advertisement in the Edwardsville 
Spectator of October 17,1820: 

FOR SALE 

AN INDENTURED NEGRO MAN 
The above Negro is about twenty-three years of age, and 
has thirteen years to serve; is well acquainted with farming; 
a pretty good rough shoe maker, and has attended at a dis¬ 
tillery; and possesses a good moral character. For further 
information apply to the Printer. 

Another law required Negroes to have on record 
the certificate of their freedom. If this was not 
done, they could he arrested and indentured for a 
year. No Negro could be a witness in a trial of 
a white person. 


SLAVERY 


111 


Illinois Has Its Part in the National Issue.—When 
Illinois entered the Union, the slavery question 
was beginning to be one of the important issues of 
the day. Whether Missouri should enter as a free 
or a slave state was the big question. The bitter 
contest over Missouri’s entrance had its effect on 
near-by Illinois. But Illinois was a free state, in 
spite of the presence of indentured Negro servants 
and slaves of the old French settlers. The com¬ 
promise that permitted Missouri to come in as a 
slave state was considered a great proslavery vic¬ 
tory, and the proslavery inhabitants were sure that 
the time to make Illinois a slave state had come. 
The plan was to make slavery legal in Illinois by 
amending the state constitution. But the consti¬ 
tution could not be amended without a convention 
for that purpose. And a convention could not be 
held without a state-wide election favoring such a 
convention. The state legislature could, with a 
two-thirds vote, call the election. Hence, the first 
stage of the contest was in the state legislature. 

The Fight in the Legislature.—When the legis¬ 
lature met, there were three important questions 
up for decision: the Illinois and Michigan Canal, 
the election of a United States senator (United 
States senators were not then elected by direct 
popular vote), and the convention election. The 
Senate was more than two thirds in favor of the 
convention, but in the House there was no cer- 


112 


ILLINOIS 


tainty. A careful canvass showed an unusual 
situation. From Pike County, or the “ Kingdom 
of Pike/’ as it was called, were two contestants, 
both claiming election. John Shaw favored the 
convention, but was opposed to McLean, the pro¬ 
slavery candidate for the United States senator- 
ship; Nicholas Hansen favored McLean, but was 
opposed to the convention. A dishonorable scheme 
was planned and carried through. Hansen was 
chosen one of the canal commissioners. But Han¬ 
sen would not vote for the convention election. 
So the contested election case was reconsidered. 
Hansen was unseated, and Shaw was declared the 
representative from Pike County. He voted for 
the convention election, which carried twenty-four 
to twelve. In this way the proslavery advocates 
, elected their candidate to the Senate and passed 
the call for the convention election. To make the 
whole plan doubly dishonorable the House then 
removed Hansen from the position of canal com¬ 
missioner. 

The Fight in the State.—The campaign in Illinois 
for and against the convention was a bitter one. 
It lasted eighteen months. At first the convention- 
ists did not admit that the extension of slavery was 
the object of the convention, but before many 
months passed they came out in their true light. 
Every one in the state took one side or the other. 
While slavery was not the sole matter at issue in 


SLAVERY 


113 


this election, yet it was the most important ques¬ 
tion to be decided. The election day came in 
August, 1824. With the vote of 6600 against call¬ 
ing a convention and 4900 for, the question of the 
extension of slavery was considered a settled mat¬ 
ter for the state of Illinois. 

For Ten Years the Slavery Question Slumbered.— 
Although legally the extension of slavery to Illinois 
could not obtain a footing, there were more and 
more Negroes in the state during the succeeding 
ten years and not many of them were free. There 
were remnants of the question, such as the black 
laws, kidnapping, and indentured Negro servants, 
which kept slavery before the people. Soon after 
the convention struggle was over, colonization so¬ 
cieties, abolition societies, and the underground 
railway were started. These movements stimu¬ 
lated the antislavery cause. 

Lovejoy and Abolition.— Elijah P. Lovejoy, a 
Presbyterian minister, came to St. Louis in 1833 
and edited a religious newspaper. He was too 
plain spoken, particularly on slavery and mob 
rule, to please the people of St. Louis, who wrecked 
his press and frequently insulted him. In 1836 
he moved to Alton, where he hoped he would have 
the support of the people of a free state. He had 
no sooner reached Alton with his press when a mob 
threw it into the river. A second and third press 
went by the same route. Alton was in a fever of 


114 


ILLINOIS 


tumult. A fourth press came and was stored in 
a warehouse. A proslavery mob attacked the 



This is the press the proslavery citizens of Alton threw into the 
Mississippi (1837). On it was printed the Alton Observer, in which 
Lovejoy again and again denounced slavery. 

building; Lovejoy with a few friends defended it. 
Shots were exchanged; Lovejoy fell and died in a 











SLAVERY 


115 


few moments. His friends gave up, and the press 
was thrown into the river. Alton long bore the 
ill fame of that night. 

Antislavery Societies.—Although Love joy no 
longer led the antislavery forces, the work went 



The Old Lovejoy Home at Princeton 

It was a station of the underground railroad. This was the home of 
Owen Lovejoy, brother of Elijah P. Lovejoy. 


on. About two weeks before Lovejoy’s death, the 
state antislavery society had met for the first time. 
Societies against the extension of slavery were 
formed in many northern counties, but efforts to 
launch like organizations in the southern part of 
the state met with violence. Colonization societies 
were organized, but they were few, for their plan 








116 


ILLINOIS 


of sending the Negroes back to Africa did not meet 
with favor. Abolition organizations were not 
popular either; it was considered too radical to do 
away with slavery at once. In spite of the fate of 
Love joy and his press, it was decided to publish 
an antislavery newspaper and to send out agents 
to form societies and to enroll members. By 1840 
the antislavery forces had entered politics and 
were running candidates for office. The move¬ 
ment spread, and entered the field of religion; and 
the Protestant churches split over the question; 
northern churches as a rule denounced slavery and 
southern churches were simply silent. 

The Underground Railroad.—The more devout 
men thought about slavery the more they were de¬ 
cided that it was a monstrous evil, “a crime against 
God and man.” Soon many came to believe that 
it was no crime to aid slaves to escape to freedom, 
although there was a very plain federal law against 
helping runaway slaves, known as the Fugitive 
Slave Law. Thus strong-minded antislavery men, 
particularly abolitionists, aided slaves to make 
their way to far northern towns or to Canada. A 
slave would run away from his master, hide in the 
daytime, travel at night, and finally meet some one 
who could tell him where he could get aid. The 
escaped Negro would reach the place of refuge, 
where he would be fed, clothed, and concealed until 
a favorable opportunity would come to transport 


SLAVERY 


117 


him to the next station farther north. The slaves 
were hidden in haystacks, in shocks of corn, in 


lofts, in cellars, and in 
Secret rooms; they were 
carried to the next de¬ 
pot under loads of hay 
or grain, or sent across 
fields by night. Sev¬ 
eral routes across the 
state were known to 
those in sympathy with 
the movement. When 
the slaves reached Chi¬ 
cago, they were con¬ 
cealed on board ships; 
on reaching Canadian 
shores the captain 
would discover them, 5 
fly into a passion, de- ! 
nounce them, and hus- ( 
tie them off—on to a ' 
safe shore and free at ; 
last. Some fifty thou- ] 
sand slaves made their ; 
perilous way to free- 1 

Benjamin Lundy, 1789-1839 

Benjamin Lundy spent his life 
in the antislavery cause. He was 
editing and publishing an anti¬ 
slavery newspaper, the Genius of 
Universal Emancipation, at the time 
af his death at Lowell, La Salle 
County. This paper he had been 
publishing since 1821, first at Mount 
Pleasant, Ohio, later at Baltimore. 
He was the first to publish anti¬ 
slavery periodicals and to deliver 
antislavery lectures. He believed the 
slaves should be freed and then sent 
to colonies abroad. 


dom by the underground railroads of the northern 
states. 

Slavery a Public Question.—From the time slavery 
had become a question in national politics the 



118 ILLINOIS 

growth of the antislavery party had been rapid; in 
1840 the antislavery vote was 7000; in 1844, 62,000; 
in 1848, 290,000; and in 1856,1,340,000. Many im¬ 
portant bills in Congress had been brought for¬ 
ward to settle the slavery question in the terri¬ 
tories. Three plans were before the people in 
1855: first, one that Lincoln favored, of letting 
Congress decide—this was in line with the Ordi¬ 
nance of 1787, the Missouri Compromise, and the 
Wilmot Proviso; second, one that Douglas fought 
for, of letting the people living in the territories 
decide, as the Compromise of 1850 allowed the ter¬ 
ritories of Utah and New Mexico to do and as the 
Kansas-Nebraska Act permitted; third, the one 
indorsed years before by Calhoun, who argued that 
the Constitution brought slavery into territories 
by its protection of the property rights of citizens 
—this was embodied in the Dred Scott Decision. 

The Kansas-Nebraska Act.— Illinois was stirred to 
active participation in the slavery question by the 
Kansas-Nebraska Act. Stephen A. Douglas, one 
of the senators from Illinois, was the chairman of 
the committee on territories, and as such intro¬ 
duced the bill (the Kansas-Nebraska Bill) that re¬ 
pealed the Missouri Compromise, thus pleasing the 
South; and allowed Kansas and Nebraska to come 
in as free or slave states, as their inhabitants 
should vote, thus hoping to please the North, de¬ 
voted to local self-government. As soon as this 


SLAVERY 


119 



bill was passed, 1 many from Illinois moved to Kan¬ 
sas and took part in the civil war waged there. 
Men were going back and forth, and Illinois almost 
daily had firsthand accounts of the outrages com- 


Marker Near Monttcello, Piatt County 
This simple monument marks the place where Lincoln and Douglas 
arranged for their famous debates. 

mitted on the Kansas prairies. Douglas, who had 
been the idol of the state, was, after the passage of 
the Kansas-Nebraska Bill, hissed from the plat¬ 
form in Chicago and with difficulty could get an 
audience to hear him in the central part of the state. 
The people of northern Illinois felt that he was a 
traitor in his stand for the repeal of the Missouri 
Compromise and did not applaud his popular sov¬ 
ereignty or local self-government plan. 

1 Passed in 1854. 




120 


ILLINOIS 


The Lincoln-Douglas Debates.—In 1858, for a third 
term as United States Senator, Douglas was nomi¬ 
nated by the Democratic party. Lincoln was put 
forward by the Republican state convention. The 
issue was clearly stated: Lincoln declared that Con¬ 
gress should exclude slavery from the territories; 
Douglas held that the settlers of the territories 
should decide the slavery question for themselves. 
Lincoln was opposed to slavery on social grounds; 
Douglas was indifferent, or mildly approved of it. 
Lincoln held that the Negro had under the Con¬ 
stitution the right to “life, liberty, and the pursuit 
of happiness”; Douglas maintained that “the gov¬ 
ernment was made for the benefit of white men.” 
In seven Illinois towns (Ottawa, Freeport, Jones¬ 
boro, Charleston, Galesburg, Quincy, and Alton), 
these great men debated with two decisive results: 
Douglas won the senatorship; Lincoln won the 
presidency. 

The Question that Won the Presidency for Lincoln. 

—In the Lincoln-Douglas debates each tried to 
drive the other into difficult positions through ques¬ 
tions. At Freeport Lincoln asked Douglas if the 
people in a territory of the United States could 
exclude slavery from the territory. Lincoln 
clearly saw that Douglas would please the southern 
states and lose Illinois votes if he said a territory 
could exclude slavery; for if it could exclude, it 
could also admit slavery, which of course was what 


SLAVERY 


121 


the southern states wanted. If Douglas answered 
that the people of a territory could not exclude 
slavery, he would please Illinois voters but dis¬ 
please the South. Douglas tried to please both 



Marker at Jonesboro 

This is the most southern point in the state of the Lincoln-Douglas 
debates. 


Illinois and the South, but failed. Douglas’s an¬ 
swer was that any state or territory could intro¬ 
duce or exclude slavery by friendly or unfriendly 
legislation no matter what the Supreme Court of 
the United States ruled. This answer did not sat¬ 
isfy the South, for the people of the southern states 






122 


ILLINOIS 


saw that this did not agree with the Dred Scott 
Decision. Thus Lincoln drove Douglas to make a 
statement that lost him the support of the South. 

Lincoln Made President,— Though Lincoln was de¬ 
feated by Douglas for the senatorship, he had 
gained a national reputation. He was invited east 
and spoke in Ohio in 1859 and at Cooper Union, 
New York City, early in 1860. Here he won 
friends in all classes great and lowly. Lincoln 
often said, in his later days, that Brady’s 1 photo¬ 
graph of him and the Cooper Union address made 
him President. A series of lucky happenings gave 
Lincoln the nomination: Chicago was chosen for 
the nominating convention; the German vote was 
antislavery and opposed to an eastern man, for 
Massachusetts had put restrictions on immigrants; 
and Seward, his great rival, was too radical. In 
the 46 Great Wigwam,” a huge temporary wooden 
building on ’ Lake and Dearborn streets, on the 
third ballot, Lincoln received the majority of votes. 
Illinois was wild with enthusiasm and excitement 
that day, and huge bonfires and noisy processions 
wore out the joyous hearts that night. At Balti¬ 
more, Douglas was put in the race by the Northern 
Democrats. The Southern Democrats and the na¬ 
tional Union party also had candidates. During 
the campaigning months Lincoln remained in 
Springfield and made no speeches; Douglas spoke 

*See frontispiece. 


Lincoln Memorial at Washington 
A temple erected to the man who saved the Union. 



123 






















124 


ILLINOIS 


almost daily, both North and South. But on elec¬ 
tion day Lincoln led Douglas in the North by two 
hundred fifty thousand votes, and Illinois had a 
Republican administration as well as a President. 

Illinois and Secession.—The threat of the South to 
secede if Lincoln and the Black Republicans won 
the election was carried out; for the South was 
determined to defend slavery by war if need be. 
Some democrats led by Douglas and a few repub¬ 
licans favored concessions; but Lincoln was op¬ 
posed to compromise, and Jefferson Davis was op¬ 
posed to compromise, “and the war came.” Lin¬ 
coln’s call for volunteers broke down party lines, 
and Douglas, to his great honor, was the first to 
go to his lifelong rival and offer his aid and in¬ 
fluence. Southern Illinois, with its people who 
came from the South and its crops that called for 
slave labor, was outspoken for secession, and the 
disunion sentiment was spreading. Douglas went 
at once to “Egypt,” 1 admitted his error “in lean¬ 
ing too far to the southern section of the Union,” 
and spent his last days in eloquent efforts toward 
winning southern Illinois to the support of the 
Northern cause. Soon the whole state was solidly 
in the Union. 


1 Southern Illinois is often called 11 Egypt”—some say because it pro¬ 
duces cotton, others because of the low-lying swampy lands, others be¬ 
cause it produces swarms of flies and mosquitoes which were the plague 
of Egypt of the Bible. At any rate ‘ ‘ Egypt ’ ’ has three places whose 
names sound Egyptian: Thebes, Karnak, and Cairo. 



SLAVERY 


125 


Illinois in the War.—Illinois gave a generous re¬ 
sponse to Lincoln’s u clarion call” for soldiers. 

C/a Oh** 

/ 7hf&AS»+'. 

ws ^£tA< 

°f / ^ tw - -i£^ Oo^J^jc 

f^u. cf •WWU 1 ^7 ^ ^ 

^ ^S, of-£«xei> 

JfuA ■&~woU.«~cL W:4 u^x ^ 

J^4fc ^ /3ojt J COsvJLc Ajt^J^ 

'jf y<n *‘ ^Ly\^oU^l^j /j^^w C^r -Th^ ^ y^ lL lLJ| / 

i»s tP&ls jt^cU^sA^ AJljusJ&ic J&fijiy oL f^ /. ^ 4aj*+. J 

^\A,G*j ’tyfia£ t^w /6tou><>>v^ 0)v«^ "&&** (yh^s*s~4*»$+ 

<>£y&firr- <&****/*a*~o£ Jh&Afl p^ew •**J^’t7&JL> 

'ty^JLsv^sV'ij o^ iP^jt/ Xe-isteL £/vwo£ ots^soL ~t>(Zu A^ww ^ 

jt&ccb '****>&: & '£*+*# *, A**sr*^co 

Jjsgy*^ 0 &£j* cUtoS* *f flAA*L***' 

A*4Aj A ++* C tr »fj OLwt Tt^UZSy 

yf£ixcr^/ 

Letter to Mrs. Lydia Bixby 

This letter is a very good example of Lincoln’s sincere and noble 
sympathy, and it is also an example of the finest kind of English 
composition. 


War Governor Yates was “ greatly embarrassed by 
the number of volunteers”; Illinois’ quota was 




126 


ILLINOIS 


6,000 troops, and 15,000 responded. This spirit 
never flagged throughout the struggle; for the state 
was 35,000 ahead of her allotment at the close of 
the war. This fine response was partly due to the 
stirring enthusiasm of Governor Yates, whose lead¬ 
ership put Illinois in the front rank of loyal states. 
Illinois ’ privates were in every campaign of 
prominence and every battle of note, and her losses 
were exceeded only by those of Ohio and of New 
York. Besides the splendid achievements of her 
volunteers, Illinois in Grant had the general of 
highest rank. Of her eleven major generals Lo¬ 
gan and Pope were the most renowned. Those who 
remained at home during the four years of war 
were as loyal as those who marched south; and they 
bravely met their triple task of caring for the sick 
and wounded, of finding homes and work for the 
Union refugees both white and black, and of fur¬ 
nishing flags, bandages, and underclothing for the 
men in the ranks. Illinois met every war call with 
the fullest measure. 

The Effects of the War on the Negro. —The Black 
Laws were in force in 1861. It was a crime for a 
Negro to enter the state. But as the war wore on, 
there were changes in the thinking of the people of 
Illinois. Step by step the changes came: first, they 
agreed with General Butler that slaves were “ con¬ 
traband of war,” property that aided the enemy in 
the war; second, if slaves could aid the South, then 


SLAVERY 


127 


they could aid the North—consequently Illinois re¬ 
cruited colored troops and led them to fight against 
the South; third, they gave them social rights, for 
we find colored women as members of a popular 
women’s organization in Chicago, and colored men 
among the graduates of the northern colleges of 
the state; fourth, they admitted colored children 
to the public schools; fifth, they granted Negroes 
equal rights in the courts (1866) ; and sixth, they 
gave them in 1870 the franchise and made them 
eligible to public offices. The Civil War made 
slaves citizens. Slavery was over. 


QUESTIONS 

1. Show the three steps whereby Negro slavery got a footing in the 

United States. 

2. Tell how Negro slavery first came to Illinois. 

3. Give one reason for slavery continuing in the state. 

4. Give some items of the Black Code. 

5. How did the slaveholders of early Illinois get around the provision . 

in the Ordinance of 1787 against slavery? 

6. What was the effect on Illinois of the Missouri Compromise? 

7. Tell of the campaign of 1824 to make Illinois a slave state. 

8. Was Lovejoy right or wrong? 

9. Relate the growth of abolition societies. 

10. Explain the operation of the underground railroads. 

11. Outline the three plans to settle the slavery question. 

12. Discuss the Kansas-Nebraska Bill and its effects on Illinois. 

13. State the positions of Lincoln and Douglas on slavery. 

14. Explain how Lincoln by one question put Douglas at a disadvantage. 

15. List the fortunate events that gave Lincoln the nomination. 

16. What did the Democrats do that gave Lincoln an easy chance to 

get the largest vote? 

17. What noble action closed the life of Douglas? 


128 


ILLINOIS 


18. Show that Illinois was a loyal state. 

19. Trace the change of the people in Illinois in regard to slavery and 

its abolition. 


EXEECISES 

Draw a time chart of slavery in Illinois, (scale twenty years to one 
half inch) thus: 


1710 


1880 


<-:-8% inches- 


* 


Make the chart from 1710 to 1880, which will be 8% inches 
long. Make it 1 inch wide. Put in the cross lines at 1720, 
1750, 1800, 1850, and 1870. In the proper places on the chart 
locate with the dates: Eenault brings slaves to Illinois, Ordinance 
of Congress against slavery, Missouri Compromise, Campaign to 
make Illinois a slave state, Death of Lovejoy, Kansas-Nebraska 
Bill, Civil War, Slaves have the right to vote. Invent a title name 
for this chart. 





CHAPTER XI 

A RAILROAD STATE 

Illinois Ready for a Period of Progress.—The con¬ 
stitution of 1870 settled, for the time, some impor¬ 
tant political items—the franchise, the judiciary, 
the representation, and the relation of education 
and religion; accordingly the way was made ready 
for the state to enjoy the great industrial growth 
that the whole nation felt at this period. This 
nation-wide industrial progress was dependent 
upon the building of railroads, the development of 
natural resources, the influx of immigrants, and 
the advent of inventions. Illinois was one of the 
leading states in the construction of railways, in 
opening mines and quarries, in offering cheap land 
to settlers from abroad, and in using machinery to 
save labor in manufacturing and extracting wealth 
from her soil. 

The Railroads, the Chief Factor in the Greatness of 
Illinois.—The period since the Civil War has been 
an era of wonderful progress for the state of Illi¬ 
nois. Before the War of the Rebellion Illinois was 
a farming state, but the net of railroads stirred 
the great elements of our marvelous growth: 
agriculture multiplied its produce by six; mines 
and quarries were opened and added many millions 
each year to our output; our factories, changing 
gradually from manufacture to machinofacture, 

129 


130 


ILLINOIS 


contributed many millions more; our mechanic in¬ 
ventiveness aided each new venture to greater and 
cheaper production; and all of these called and 
claimed an influx of settlers who were energetic 
and efficient. Above all, planning and guiding, 
were the daring men, statesmen, capitalists, and 
captains of industry, who believed in the coming 
greatness of Illinois and pointed the way. But 
progress would have been slow and disappointing 
if there had been no railroads. Our central loca¬ 
tion, which has made Illinois the hub of the Middle 
W est, would have been of no avail if there had been 
no railroads. The railroads are the arteries 
through which flows the blood of our agricultural 
and industrial life. 

The Growth of the Railway Net.—In 1850 there 
were one hundred miles of railroad in Illinois; 
to-day there are twenty-four thousand miles of 
track, of which over twelve thousand are actual 
length of right of way. 1 One twentieth of the rail¬ 
road mileage of the United States is in Illinois; 
only one state, Texas, exceeds it in miles of rail¬ 
way. 2 Only two counties of the state are without 
railroads,—Hardin and Calhoun (these have river 
transportation); and there are only two towns of 
over five hundred inhabitants, Nauvoo and Perry, 
which are without a railroad. 

1 The land the railroad owns and on which it places its rails is called 
the right of way. 

3 Chicago is considered the greatest railroad center of the world. 


A RAILROAD STATE 


131 


The Electric Roads—The main-line trackage of 
the electric roads is about one tenth of that of the 
steam roads. In many places the electric lines 
parallel the railroads connecting heavily populated 
centers, but on the 
other hand they also 
enter districts not 
tapped by steam roads, 
and thus they aid in 
giving freight and pas¬ 
senger transportation 
to parts of the state un¬ 
touched by railroad or 
river routes. 

The Canals.—T here 
are three canals in Illi¬ 
nois: the Illinois and 
Michigan, one hundred 
miles long, 1 but neg¬ 
lected and forlorn, a 
dilapidated ditch for 
most of its length, join¬ 
ing the South Branch 
of the Chicago River and the Illinois River at La 
Salle; the Chicago Sanitary and Ship (Drainage), 
thirty-two miles long, connecting the South Branch 
and the Des Plaines rivers at Lockport; and the 
Illinois and Mississippi (Hennepin), seventy-five 

*It is used for navigation from Lockport to La Salle. 



Bailroads in 1850 

There were about one hundred 
miles of railroad in Illinois in 1850. 







132 


ILLINOIS 


miles long, uniting the Illinois and Mississippi 
rivers. There is almost no traffic on these canals. 

The Hard Roads.—The great increase in the num¬ 
ber of automobiles in the state has brought hard¬ 
surfaced roads to Illinois. The people of the state 



Illinois is the first state in the Union in the number of miles of concrete 
road built in a single year. 


have voted fabulous sums for better roads—sixty 
million dollars in 1918 and in 1924 one hundred 
millions more. When these roads are completed, 
every portion of the state will be, at farthest, only 
five miles from a hard road. There is no state work 
in hand which is progressing as rapidly as the con¬ 
struction of hard roads, and Illinois is leading all 






133 




















































134 


ILLINOIS 


the states in the building of paved highways. One 
thousand miles were constructed in 1923, and when 
the proposed system is completed, Illinois will be 
the best paved land in the world, with almost ten 
thousand miles of hard roads to her credit. These 
supply capillaries to her central trunk lines, and 
thus make Illinois a still greater railroad state. 

The Natural Resources. —If the excellent means of 
transportation which the state possesses is the 
chief factor in its industrial progress, the presence 
of raw materials in great quantities is the second 
factor in the great growth and development of Illi¬ 
nois. Among the states Illinois ranks very high in 
agricultural and mineral products. The farms, 
mines, quarries, and wells produce the raw mate¬ 
rials that have given Illinois the opportunity, 
which was quickly grasped, of becoming one of the 
first states in manufacturing. 

Farm Products .—In 1870 Illinois was one of the 
group of leading agricultural states. This position 
she has improved, and now is among the first three 
in the list of states in the value of farm produce. 
In farm area Iowa alone exceeds Illinois. In the 
value of the important crops of corn, wheat, oats, 
and hay, Illinois stands first, with Ohio second, 
Nebraska third, Iowa fourth, and Minnesota fifth. 
In the total value of all farm crops only Texas and 
Iowa lead Illinois. 

Mineral Resources .—The mines, quarries, and 


A RAILROAD STATE 


135 


oil wells of Illinois produce supplies enough for 
her own consumption with a comfortable balance 
to ship to her sister states. Coal is the most valua¬ 
ble product, only Pennsylvania and West Virginia 
exceeding her output. In the production of fluor 
spar Illinois ranks first; and in tripoli, second. 
Her principal mineral products are coal, pig iron, 
clay products, oil, coke, and cement. Yet with all 
of the natural wealth that Illinois possesses, this 
inland state would have an inferior rank if there 
were no railroads. 

Immigration. —The fertile prairies and rich mines 
of Illinois brought thousands of settlers from the 
older states. Later the renown of the great re¬ 
sources of the state lured home seekers from dis¬ 
tant shores. Attracted first by cheap and fertile 
lands and later by the opportunities for work 
which the factories offered, Illinois has from the 
beginning had a large percentage of her popula¬ 
tion foreign born. Only New York and Pennsyl¬ 
vania have larger quotas. Accordingly, people are 
at hand both for employment in the industries and 
for a market for the products of the farms and the 
factories. Again the railroads are the aids in 
bringing an abundance of labor to Illinois. If 
there had been no railroads, the growth in popula¬ 
tion from twenty-five hundred in 1800 to over six 
and one half million in 1920 could not have taken 
place. 


136 


ILLINOIS 


Inventions. —Every invention in America or in 
Europe that could aid in increasing the quantity 
or could decrease the cost of the output of Illinois 
raw materials was made use of by the alert and 
enterprising men of the state. The Civil War, tak¬ 
ing men from the farms, obliged those left at home 
to introduce .labor-saving machinery to make good 
the loss of manpower. Their keenness not only led 
them to bring inventions into the state, but they 
were also forced by nature to devise machines to 
wrest the wealth from a stubborn soil. 

The Plow .—The matted sod, centuries old, of the 
Illinois prairies could not be turned by the plow 
the Pilgrim Fathers used in the sandy loam of New 
England; consequently the older mold boards of 
wood or iron were laid aside and the surface- 
hardened steel plow that will scour in any land and 
wear long in sandy soil was invented. John Lane, 
Sr., in his country wayside shop on the present site 
of the Illinois Central Station at Twelfth Street, 
fashioned from an old steel cross-cut saw blade a 
plow that was later improved by John Deere. 
Hence we have the Deere plows of Moline. John 
Lane, Jr., invented the soft center steel with hard¬ 
ened surface that scours and will not break. The 
sulky and gang plows are later developments. 

The Wire Fence .—The prairies brought us the 
barbed-wire fence. This was an Illinois invention 
by J. F. Glidden. The split-rail fence was unob- 


A RAILROAD STATE 


137 



International Harvester Company 


Cyrus Hall McCormick, 1809-1884 

Cyrus Hall McCormick was born in Virginia, where in 1831 he in¬ 
vented the reaper. Kecognizing that the prairies of the West would 
furnish the great market for his machine, he moved to Chicago in 1847. 
The manufacture of the reaper and other farming implements brought 
him wealth and fame. He contributed so liberally to the Presbyterian 
Theological Seminary that in 18o9 it was moved from New Albany, 
Indiana, to Chicago, and was later named for him. 


tamable on our treeless prairies. The wire fence 
was necessary for progress in the stock and dairy 
lines. 

The Reaper .—Although the reaper was not in¬ 
vented in Illinois, this state is its home; for the in- 







138 


ILLINOIS 



Chicago Historical Society 

George M. Pullman, 1831-1897 


Pullman is a typical captain of modern industry. He is also an 
inventor, who, like McCormick, won fame and fortune by his invention. 
He developed the modern sleeping coach, organized a company to build 
these palace cars, and founded the town of Pullman, near Chicago. 


ventor, Cyrus H. McCormick, clearly saw that the 
level prairies of Illinois would furnish the market 
for his reapers. In 1847 reapers were first made in 
Chicago, and so many improvements have been 
made since that time that there seems little connec- 



A RAILROAD STATE 


139 


tion between a reaper of 1847 and a self-binder of 
to-day. The labor saved by these improvements is 
almost unbelievable. The cradle reduced labor one 
half, the reaper reduced it another half, and the 



Chicago Historical Society 

Frank O. Lowden 

Governor of Illinois during the World War. 


self-binder saves over ninety per cent of the work 
of harvesting. 

Pullman Cars .—A railroad state should make 
some gift to the source of its greatness. The Pull¬ 
man sleeping car was patented in 1865 by George 




140 


ILLINOIS 



Chicago Lake Front 
Reproduced from a painting made for 


M. Pullman. Soon parlor cars and dining cars fol¬ 
lowed. To-day a person may board a Pullman in 
any part of the United States and arrive in Chi¬ 
cago without change of cars. Of all great cities in 
our country this is true only of Chicago. These 
palaces on wheels are continental in their use, but 
their home is in Illinois. They are built in Pull¬ 
man, a suburb of Chicago. 

The World War_This period of growth met one 

obstacle in its progress, and that was the World 
War. The great conflict that gradually drew all 
the world into its folds finally involved the Ameri¬ 
can nation. Illinois turned from her forward- 
looking projects and more than met her quotas in 










A RAILROAD STATE 


141 



Loop District 

S. W. Straus and Company by H. M. Pettit. 

men and money. Illinois during the first few days 
led all the states in voluntary enlistment. Gover¬ 
nor Lowden brought capital and labor into the 
state council for defense; and with his words of 
leadership—“This war can be won by neither labor 
nor capital alone. Gentlemen, you have got to 
work together! ’ ’—ringing in their ears, differences 
were laid aside and united effort was the result. 
With the exception of pacifists and socialists, 
Illinois presented a united front and all made sac¬ 
rifices to win the war. 

Future Projects.—Illinois looks ahead still to the 
completion of plans that will aid commerce and in¬ 
dustry. Two projects are to-day before the state: 




London Guarantee and Accident Building 

This beautiful office building stands on the site of old Fort Dearborn. 
It is on the west side of Michigan Boulevard, just south of Chicago 
River. A century has brought a great change to this spot. 


142 







A RAILROAD STATE 


143 


The Great Lakes Waterway .—The aim of the 
Great Lakes water route is to load ocean-going 
vessels in Chicago and pass them through the 
Great Lakes and the St. Lawrence River so that 



Photograph by Phil E. Church 


The Keokuk Dam 
Near Hamilton 

This dam is a mile (less one span of the dam) long. Immense power 
is here harnessed and conducted far into the neighboring states of Iowa, 
Missouri, and Illinois. 

any ocean port may receive the Chicago-loaded 
cargo. No work has been done on this project. 

The Illinois Waterway .—In 1908 the people of 
the state voted twenty million dollars in bonds to 
develop a water route eight feet in depth from Chi¬ 
cago to Utica where the Illinois River is navigable. 
The Drainage Canal will he used to Lockport, and 





144 


ILLINOIS 


the Des Plaines and the Illinois rivers from that 
point. One of the five locks for this project is 
done. It is no mean lock, six hundred feet long and 
as wide as a Panama lock (one hundred ten feet). 
It is near Marseilles. This waterway furnishes 
not only transportation hut also power. When the 
Illinois waterway connects the Chicago with the 



The Chicago Art Institute 


Illinois River there will be only nine locks 1 be¬ 
tween Chicago and New Orleans 2 and then, with 
barge fleets leaving Chicago docks and moving 
without change of load to New Orleans where the 
freight may be placed on ocean-going vessels, a new 
and vast market will he opened for the farms and 
factories of Illinois. 

1 At Lockport, Joliet, Dresden Island, Marseilles, Starved Rock, 
Henry, Copperas Creek, La Grange, and Kampsville. 

2 The United States government is now improving the Ohio River, but 
there will be fifty-four locks between Pittsburgh and Cairo. 







A RAILROAD STATE 


145 


The Development and Progress. —The increase in 
population, the development of natural resources, 
and the output of factories have passed through a 
most marvelous growth. Men ask each other 
whether this can continue at the same rate with the 
passing of another century. There will be increase, 
there will be growth, and there will be develop¬ 
ment, but the loyal-thinking men of Illinois hope 
that the progress of the coming century will be in 
art, in letters, in culture, and in morality. Those 
that love Illinois are working for an advance that 
will make the coming citizens of Illinois happy 
workers who will rejoice in plain living, high 
thinking, and helpful service to their fellow men. 
This means that more thought and more money 
must be devoted to the cause of education. On the 
youth of to-day will depend the progress of Illinois. 

QUESTIONS 

1. How many miles of railroad were there in Illinois in 1850 ? 

2. Can you give one reason for Texas having more miles of railroad 

to-day than Illinois? 

3. What two other kinds of roads aid in transportation? 

4. Locate the three canals of the state. 

5. How much money has the state voted for hard roads? 

6. In total value of farm crops what rank has Illinois? 

7. In what mineral products is Illinois first? Second? Third? 

8. What two names are connected with the improvement of the plow? 

9. Name two other men whose inventions helped Illinois farmers? 

10. Name two advantages in traveling in a Pullman car? 

11. Who was the World War governor of Illinois? 

12. Explain the object of the Great Lakes Waterway. The Illinois 

Waterway? 


CHAPTER XII 


PUBLIC INSTITUTIONS 

The Earliest Schools. —-As a colony, Illinois was 
settled before some of the original thirteen were 
founded; but, as a state, Illinois was the twenty- 
first to enter the Union. In education the state 
has lagged behind this rank. Cahokia in 1794 may 
have had a village school, but it was not until 1817 
that a private school was started in Kaskaskia. 
The early private schools, where only those could 
attend who paid tuition, were chiefly for the 
daughters of the well-to-do families; for embroid¬ 
ery, needlework, painting, Latin, and French 
were the subjects usually taught. 

Wise Provisions.— The federal government made 
liberal grants of land for the cause of education 
to the states that were formed from the territory 
west of the Alleghenies. The act of Congress which 
permitted Illinois to form a constitution and state 
government ordered that land section 16 4 4 in every 
township . . . shall be granted to the state for 
the use of schools.’’ This meant that one thirty- 
sixth of all the land in Illinois was to be devoted 
to education. Furthermore, this same act read 
that three per cent of all public lands sold by 
Congress shall “be appropriated . . . for the 
encouragement of learning, of which one sixth 
part shall be exclusively bestowed on a college or 

146 


PUBLIC INSTITUTIONS 


147 


university.’’ Illinois by this provision took the 
first place in the list of states in aid of education. 
And furthermore two entire townships, seventy- 
two square miles, were reserved for the use of a 
seminary of learning. Here were additional pro¬ 
visions in which higher education was recognized. 
The founders of the state splendidly provided for 
education, but later legislation for schools was not 
so handsomely done. 

Early Public Schools.—In 1825 a very good law 
was passed that allowed districts of fifteen or more 
families to levy a tax for the running of a school, 
but this was too democratic and was repealed in 
1827. As late as 1843 opposition to a state system 
presented the argument that it was unjust to tax 
one class of people for the benefit of another. But 
in 1845 voters in school districts were permitted 
to levy a special tax to conduct schools, and the 
secretary of state was given the added duty of 
state superintendent of public schools. All this 
time the funds which came from the school lands 
went into the state treasury and were used for the 
ordinary expenses of the government. The state 
still pays to the schools the interest on these funds. 
Those early schools were sorry affairs—rickety 
buildings, poorly heated, with rough furniture, 
crude books, and inferior teachers. No wonder 
private schools sprang up. It is quite probable 
that before 1850 there were more pupils in the pri- 


148 


ILLINOIS 


vate schools than in the public schools of the state. 
In 1850 Chicago had thirty private and four pub¬ 
lic schools. In three counties of the state in the 
same year there were neither public nor private 
schools. 

The Growth of Public Schools—In the early days 
of the statehood of Illinois not a cent was raised 



Evanston Township High School 

One of the large township high schools of the state. This is its new 
building furnished in all departments with equipment of the most modern 
type. The grounds cover fifty-five acres. (Kindness of Wilfred E. 
Beardsley, Principal.) 

by public taxation for schools, and there was not 
a public school in the state. One hundred years 
has made a great change, for not only the local 
school district and state furnish funds for schools, 
but the federal government also gives aid. From 
no child in attendance to a million and a quarter 
children in the public schools of to-day is a long 
leap. Two more companion pictures of Illinois 











PUBLIC INSTITUTIONS 149 

show a state without a schoolhouse and one with 
fifteen thousand; one without a teacher and one 
with forty thousand. 

National Aid.—In addition to the early grants, 
the federal government by an act of 1917 aids voca- 


Rondout School, Lake County 

Rondout School in Lake County is one of many recently built. It is 
a good country school house. The school room windows are very large 
so as to give ample light. (Kindness of T. A. Simpson.) 

tional education by appropriating for Illinois 
about a quarter of a million dollars each year, pro¬ 
vided Illinois will vote an equal sum. 

State Aid.—Besides the money the state gives for 
vocational education, at present there is* expended 






150 ILLINOIS 

annually on the elementary schools eight million 
dollars from the state treasury, which is known as 
the state distributive fund. 

School Districts—The chief support of the pub¬ 
lic schools, however, comes from the district. Here 


St. Charles School for Boys 

At St. Charles is a school for boys under court sentence. There are 
twenty-two cottages, of which six are here shown. Each cottage houses 
forty or fifty boys. The large building at the end of the street is the 
school. (Kindness of Colonel E. D. Whipp.) 

almost all the money is raised that finances the 
schools. These districts are, with some exceptions, 
independent of all other areas. 

Kinds of Schools.—There are many kinds of 
schools in Illinois: kindergarten, elementary or 






PUBLIC INSTITUTIONS 


151 



grammar schools, high schools, normal schools, and 
the state university. There are special schools for 
the ex-service men, the crippled, the blind, the deaf, 
the dumb, the wayward, the epileptic, the feeble¬ 
minded, and the criminal. 

School Attendance—In 1883 the first compulsory 
school attendance law was passed. To-day all 


Chapel Girls in Line, Ready for Services, State Training School, 
Geneva 

(Kindness of Mrs. Lucy Ball) 

under the age of sixteen must attend school until 
they have been graduated from high school. If it 
is necessary for the children to help in the support 
of the family, they may be employed after they 
become fourteen years of age; but these employed 
children must attend a part-time continuation 
school for eight hours each week, if there is such 




152 


ILLINOIS 



Illinois State Reformatory, Pontiac 

The main building of the State Reformatory at Pontiac. There are 
here about twelve hundred inmates. There are four departments: farm, 
fiber, print, and shirt factory. Some work on the farm, the chief object 
of which is to produce food for the inmates. (Kindness of Ira M. Lish.) 

a school in their district. 1 These laws have in¬ 
creased attendance very materially. According to 
the 1924 report of the State Superintendent of 
Public Instruction, Christian County led the state 

part-time continuation school is for employed boys and girls be¬ 
tween the ages of fourteen and eighteen. If the school board of any 
district, in which there are twenty or more of such pupils, establishes 
such a school, it is the duty of the parents and of the employers to see 
that the employed boys and girls attend the part-time continuation school 
at least eight hours a week between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m., except Saturday 
afternoon and Sunday. In these schools the education of the pupils is 
continued. They study the subjects usually taught in the public schools; 
to these are added “civic and vocational subjects, and those subjects 
which supplement the daily occupation of the students. ” 









PUBLIC INSTITUTIONS 


153 


with an average attendance of ninety-five per cent. 

Governmental Organization.—There are several 
strata of organizations in the school system of the 
state. These are rather loosely bound together. 



Keystone View Company 


Illinois State. Normal University, Normal, Illinois 
(Near Bloomington) 

This college for the training of teachers has fifty-six acres in its 
school site, with a farm of ninety acres adjoining. Illinois has five 
schools of this type. 


The State .—The state superintendent of public 
instruction is the head of the public school system. 
This officer has some control of the state school 
funds, busies himself with reports that come to him 
from all parts of the state, and exercises some 
slight supervision over the schools of the state. He 
is elected by a state-wide vote for four years, and 





154 ILLINOIS 

his term of office overlaps that of the governor by 
two years. He also is a member of the boards that 
control the normal schools and the state university. 

The County.—The chief officer in this area is the 
county superintendent of schools. He also is 


Smith Memorial Hall 

University of Illinois, Urhana. (Kindness of H. C. Hollister.) 

elected by the people and for a term of four years. 
He apportions the state distributive fund to the 
school township and advises with local school offi¬ 
cers. The county superintendent also supervises 
the teaching and inspects school buildings, passing 
upon their sanitary condition. 

The Township .—The township organization con¬ 
sists of a board of three trustees who are elected by 








PUBLIC INSTITUTIONS 


155 


6 

5 

4 | 

3 

2 

1 

7 

8 

9 

10 

II 

12 

16 

17 

ws 

m 

15 

14 

13 

19 

20 

21 

22 

23 

24 

30 

29 

28 

27 

26 

25 

31 

32 

33 

34 

35 

36 


Sections of a Congressional Township 


Section sixteen of every township became school land. Sometimes 
it was not the best section, but the regret is that it was sold in early 
days when land was cheap. Some townships still have much of the 
money obtained from the sale, and even have increased the amount by 
investment. 

the people. This board manages the property 
which came from the early federal grants, assigns 
to the school districts the state distributive fund, 
and receives and pays out all money belonging to 
the school districts. This board has nothing to do 
with the supervision of the schools. Its financial 
















156 ILLINOIS 

work is done by a township treasurer whom it 
appoints. 

The District .—There are many kinds of districts 
in the state: some have a one-room schoolhouse, 



Ceramics Engineering Building 
University of Illinois, Urtana 

Ceramics means the making of tile and pottery from clay. Clay 
products have a high place in the manufactures of the state, and the 
state university is wise in having a building devoted to this art. The 
building is made of brick and tile and terra cotta, all ceramic products. 
(Kindness of H. C. Hollister.) 


others have many large buildings; some have three 
members on the board, others have five or more 
members; some control only elementary schools, 
some govern elementary and high schools, others 
manage only high schools; some are over consoli- 







PUBLIC INSTITUTIONS 


157 


dated districts, some over community high-school 
districts, others over non-high-school districts. In 
all these different districts the board members are 
elected by the people. 



Keystone View Company 


Western Illinois State Teachers’ College, Macomb, Illinois 

This is the youngest of the five normal schools of Illinois. It has a 
campus of sixty acres. Illinois is well provided with schools for the 
training of teachers, for no part of the state is more than one hundred 
miles from a normal school. 

The State Schools.—The federal government, when 
the state was founded, provided for higher educa¬ 
tion. To-day, besides the University of Illinois, 
there are five normal schools or teachers ’ training 
colleges. These institutions have grown to great 
size, for between five and six million dollars an¬ 
nually are spent to maintain the state university 




158 


ILLINOIS 


and over one and one half million dollars are ex¬ 
pended on the normal schools. The normal schools 
are: Illinois State Normal University, at Nor¬ 
mal; Southern Illinois State Normal University, 
at Carbondale; Northern Illinois State Teachers’ 



Keystone View Company 

Northern Illinois State Teachers’ College, Dekalb, Illinois 

This is not only a school for the training of teachers, but has by 
law been named as a college with a four-year course above the high 
school. The normal schools at Macomb and Charleston have also such 
four-year college courses. 


College, at Dekalb; Eastern Illinois State Teach¬ 
ers’ College, at Charleston; and Western Illinois 
State Teachers’ College, at Macomb. 

Other State Institutions.—There are other state- 
supported institutions. Some of these are schools 
and some are hospitals and charitable asylums. 





PUBLIC INSTITUTIONS 


159 



Keystone View Company 

Southern Illinois Penitentiary, Menard 


This prison is about a mile from Chester in Randolph County. There 
are almost six hundred acres of grounds. Stone is quarried, and brick, 
knit goods, and clothing are made by the inmates. 


Pupils or 


Name 

Illinois School for the. 
Illinois School for the. 


Illinois State Reformatory 


Illinois Soldiers’ and 


nois . 

Illinois Soldiers’ Orphans’ 


State Hospital 


Character 

Location 

Inmates 

.Deaf . 

.Jacksonville 

.. 399 

.Blind . 

.Jacksonville 

.. 231 

s Blind . 

.Chicago ... 

79 

.Reform School .. . 

.Geneva .... 

, .. 435 

.Reform School .. . 

.St. Charles . 

. . . 632 

. Reform School . . . 

.Pontiac . . . . 

... 125 

'.School for Feeble¬ 
minded . 

.Lincoln . . . 

... 2017 

.Epileptic, feeble- 
minded and insane 

.Dixon . . .. , 

... 1056 

pfnmp . 

.Quincy .. . 

... 788 

L- 

Hnme . 

.Wilmington 

. . 90 

Home . 

.Normal ... 

... 425 

.Insane . 

.Elgin .... 

... 2557 































160 


ILLINOIS 



Kankakee State Hospital 

The main building of one of the largest state hospitals for the insane 
of the state. There are about eighty buildings and one thousand acres 
devoted to the almost four thousand inmates. Here those that are de¬ 
mented are cared for at the expense of the state. The best treatment 
that science can offer is given the patients, with the result that many 
return to their former walks of life as useful citizens. 





Pupils or 

Name 

Character 

Location 

Inmates 

State Hospital . 



.... 3348 

State Hospital . 



State Hospital . 



.... 1780 

State Hospital . 



... 1703 

State Hospital . 


.Pfioria. 

2422 

State Hospital . 


, . _ , .Cheater 

227 

State Hospital . 


. . . . , Chicago 

3345 

State Hospital . 


.A ltnn 

1194 

Illinois State Penitentiary . 

. . .Penal .. 


.... 1941 

Southern Illinois Penitentiary .Penal .... 


.... 1235 

Illinois State Farm. 



. . . . 68 

Woman’s Prison . 


Joliet 

40 

Illinois Charitable Eye and Ear 



Infirmary . 


.Chicago .. , 

.... 127 






































PUBLIC INSTITUTIONS 


161 


Public Libraries. — State Libraries. —The state not 
only provides for the training of the youth but also 
wisely cares for the education of the adults. There 





The Illinois Soldiers’ Orphans Home, Normal 
Main building and cottages seen here are some of the thirty buildings 
on the ninety-six acres of this home built for the orphans of the soldiers 
of our wars. There are over four hundred cared for here, one third of 
whom are war orphans, the rest are children who are homeless from 
other causes. There is the full modern school equipment of shops for 
arts and crafts as well as school rooms. The system of cottages at¬ 
tempts to give the children homelike surroundings. The main building 
contains offices and shops with dormitories for boys on the third and 
fourth floors. (Kindness of Ralph Spafford, manager, of the Illinois 
Soldiers’ Orphans Home.) 

are a state historical library and a state library at 
Springfield. The latter maintains an extension 
library by which all parts of the state can be 
reached. 




162 


ILLINOIS 


Local Libraries .—Liberal provision by law has 
been made for libraries in counties, cities, and vil¬ 
lages. Money can be borrowed for the construc- 



New Illinois Penitentiary at Stateville 

Stateville is six miles north of Joliet. Sixty-four acres are inclosed 
by the smooth concrete wall, making it the largest prison yard in the 
United States. The eight circular cell houses have 248 cells or rooms 
each. Each room has a lavatory, toilet, radiator, light, table, bed, and 
chair; these rooms are so arranged that direct sunlight reaches every 
room. The circular dining-room is in the center and seats two thousand, 
who are served by the cafeteria plan. The other buildings are offices, 
warehouses, factories, chapel, school, and hospital. (Kindness of John L. 
Whitman.) 

tion of buildings, and taxes can be levied for 
library service and equipment. Only backward 
communities are without public libraries. 

QUESTIONS 

1. The earliest schools were of what kind? 

2. What federal aid to schools was given Illinois in 1818? 

3. How long ago did public schools begin in Illinois? 





PUBLIC INSTITUTIONS 


163 


4. About what time did public schools outnumber private schools? 

5. What federal aid came in 1917? 

6. What is the amount of the state aid to-day? 

7. Give the compulsory school law of Illinois. 

8. Describe a part-time school. 

9. Give three facts about the state superintendent of schools. (Name 

him.) 

10. What are some of the duties of the county superintendent? (Name 

yours.) 

11. What are the duties of township trustees? (Name your trustees.) 

12. In what kind of school district do you live? 

13. What kind of high-school district will give you high-school training? 

14. Name and locate the six great state schools. 

15. What three state institutions, not solely educational, are near ycu? 

16. What state libraries have we? 

17. Is there a local library in your neighborhood? 

EXERCISE 

Draw a time chart for schools in Illinois (scale, ten years to one 
inch) thus: 

1818 1920 


< -10 inches - > 


Make the chart from 1818 to 1920 (ten inches long). Make it one 
inch wide. Draw the cross lines each ten years from 1820 on. 
Locate in the proper places: the federal land grant, the first 
school law and its repeal, the later free school law, first com¬ 
pulsory attendance law, the federal law of 1917, the part-time 
law of 1919. 






Saint Gaudens ’ Lincoln 
Lincoln Park, Chicago. 
164 














CHAPTER XIII 

NOTED MEN AND WOMEN 

Only a Few Great Names.—Illinois has devoted 
most of her energy to her mines, her factories, her 
farms, and her railroads. When this period is 
over and wealth brings leisure, there will appear 
more men and women who are noted in art and let¬ 
ters. But the times of difficulty and danger in Illi¬ 
nois history have brought some great men to lead¬ 
ership. 

Abraham Lincoln (born, 1809—died, 1865).—This 
is the greatest name of Illinois. He was a self- 
made man, a keen statesman, a kind spirit, and a 
martyr to a great cause—that democracy might be 
safe to the United States. But we must never for¬ 
get that he might never have become great, and 
that he rose to greatness when the chance came by 
his humility, his care, his thoroughness, his slow¬ 
ness, his solving great problems by himself alone. 
The two great questions which the people of the 
United States have solved during the past one hun¬ 
dred years were the two on which Lincoln took a 
strong stand. The position he maintained almost 
a century ago was in each case the one finally 
chosen as the right one for these two great national 
problems, slavery and prohibition. 1 In 1842 Lin- 

■ 1 Prohibition was called temperance in those days. 

165 


166 ILLINOIS 

coin, after expressing a hope that the “political 
freedom” of the country would “grow and expand 
into the universal liberty of mankind,” said: 
“When the victory shall he complete—when there 
he neither slave nor drunkard on earth—how 



Photograph by Phil E). Church 


Lincoln Memorial House, New Salem 
This house is in the State Park at Petersburg. Here memorials and 
relics of Lincoln are kept. 

proud the title of that land which may truly claim 
to be the birthplace and the cradle of both those 
revolutions (prohibition and slavery) that shall 
have ended in that victory! How nobly distin¬ 
guished that people who shall have planted and 
nurtured to maturity both the political and moral 
freedom of their species !” This is a good example 








NOTED MEN AND WOMEN 167 

of his keenness born of Ms habit of thoroughness. 
Here were two great problems; he thought on them 
long and carefully, and finally came to a solution. 
His care, his thoroughness, and even his slowness 



The town of New Salem, where Lincoln spent seven years of his life, 
has disappeared. Its site is now a state park. Lincoln was a clerk in 
Offut's store. Near here was the scene of the celebrated ‘ ‘ wrestling ’ 7 
match between Lincoln and Jack Armstrong. Offut’s store finally came 
into Lincoln's hands, but the store was never a paying enterprise, and 
in the end left Lincoln so deeply in debt that he called the burden in 
grim humor his li National Debt." It took him seventeen years to pay 
the principal and interest of this debt. 

on every question is a needed example to young 
Americans. 

Ulysses S. Grant (born, 1822 —died, 1885). —The 
Civil War produced great generals; Illinois 
proudly claims Grant. His doggedness and his 






168 ILLINOIS 

untiring energy broke the Southern ranks, won 
the Civil War, and made him President. His life 
shows us the value of preparedness. Many a man 
lives an even life with no crises to call him forth; 
some men are prepared for greater things, but ho 


Grant’s Home in Galena in 1860 

opportunity comes. Grant was prepared for the 
call to leadership in the Civil War, for he had for 
that critical moment in our history the best prepa¬ 
ration this country could give—he was a graduate 
of West Point Military Academy. Opportunity 
knocked at his door, and somebody was at home. 

Stephen A. Douglas (born, 1813 —died, 1861).— 
Another statesman whose name ranks high is 
Stephen A. Douglas, w T ho was our United States 




NOTED MEN AND WOMEN 169 

Senator at Washington for many years (1847- 
1861). His character and his actions still puzzle 
his admirers. He favored the plan called “ squat¬ 
ter sovereignty,” which repealed the Missouri 
Compromise; this displeased the North. Douglas 
opposed the Lecomp- 
ton constitution; this 
displeased the South. 

But when the great 
test came, when men 
must decide to be for or 
against the Union, he 
courageously stood for 
a united country; sup¬ 
ported his opponent, 

Lincoln; and died in 
the early days of the 
Civil War, urging the lukewarm counties of Illi¬ 
nois to be loyal to the Union cause. 

Thomas Ford (born, ?—died, 1850), (Governor, 
1842-1846).—When Illinois finances were at the 
lowest ebb, a brave man was chosen governor of the 
state. At a time when the easy way out for Illinois 
was to say, “We are so deeply in debt, we cannot 
pay; let us wipe the slate clean and begin anew,” 
Thomas Ford led Illinois away from disgrace. He 
unfolded a plan 1 by which finally all state debts 
were paid, and the name of Illinois was left un- 

a See pages 97-98, Chapter VIII. 




170 ILLINOIS 



stained. He is the author of A History of Illinois, 
published in 1854. 

John A. Logan (born, 1826—died, 1886).—While 
Douglas was a politician and Grant a soldier, Lo¬ 
gan was both. Unlike 
Grant and Douglas, 
Logan was born in Illi¬ 
nois. He held many 
offices as a legislator in 
the state and at Wash¬ 
ington; he was, at the 
peak of his career, a 
major-general in the 
Civil War and a United 
States Senator in Con¬ 
gress. Blaine once said 
of Logan, “ While there 
have been more illus¬ 
trious military leaders 
in the United States, 
and more illustrious 
leaders in the legisla¬ 
tive halls, there has, I 
think, been no man in this country who has com¬ 
bined the two careers in so eminent a degree as 
General Logan.'” 

Richard Yates (born, 1850, in Missouri—died, 
1873).—Richard Yates spent most of his life in 
Illinois. He was in our State Legislature and later 


Chicago Historical Society 

John A. Logan 

Logan was a private in the Mexi¬ 
can War and an officer in the Civil 
War. In the latter he was in many 
of the important engagements. In 
peace he held many prominent po¬ 
litical offices. He wrote a history 
of the Civil War called The Great 
Conspiracy . 



NOTED MEN AND WOMEN 


171 


a member of Congress, 
first in the House, and 
then in the Senate. 
He vigorously opposed 
slavery, and as Gov¬ 
ernor of the state dur¬ 
ing the Civil War won 
his greatest fame as a 
loyal supporter of the 
Union. He was gover¬ 
nor from 1861 to 1865. 

Eugene Field (born, 



Chicago Historical Society 
Eugene Field 



Chicago Historical Society 

Richard Yates 
Civil War Governor of Illinois. 


1850, in Missouri— 
died, 1895).—Illinois 
had a poet who wrote 
quaint and beautiful 
songs for both children 
and their elders. “ Lit¬ 
tle Boy Blue ’ ’ is one of 
the most delicate bits 
of child verse ever 
written. Field was a 
journalist as well as 
a poet. For a num¬ 
ber of years (1883- 
1895), he conducted 
a column, 1 ‘ Sharps 
and Flats/’ in the 
Chicago Daily News . 






172 ILLINOIS 

Frances E. Willard (born, 1839, in New York- 
died, 1898).—Illinois claims Frances E. Willard, 
tbe great temperance reformer, because she spent 
many years of ber busy life in tbe state. Sbe was 
for a number of years a professor and tben dean 

of women at North¬ 
western University be¬ 
fore sbe became secre¬ 
tary and later presi¬ 
dent of tbe Woman’s 
Christian Temperance 
Union. Tbe latter of¬ 
fice sbe held up to tbe 
time of ber death. Sbe 
labored without stint 
in seeking to rid this 
country and tbe world 
of tbe liquor traffic; 
for ten years sbe aver- 

Chicago Historical Society aged a meeting a day. 

Frances E. Willard gp e founded the 

World’s Christian Temperance Union and was 
later made its president. Sbe wrote several books; 
ber writings and ber lectures always bad one end 
in view, prohibition. 

Jane Addams (born, 1860, in Illinois).—Jane 
Addams has devoted ber life to civic and social re¬ 
forms. Sbe is a graduate of Kockford College and 
is tbe founder (1889) and bead of Hull House, a 






NOTED MEN AND WOMEN 173 

social settlement in an uninviting and neglected 
district of Chicago. At Hull House many refined 
and high-minded men and women reside, and here 
is a center of culture and cheer which has a moving 


Jane Addams, Hull House, Chicago 
(Kindness of Miss Rose M. Gyles.) 

influence on its neighborhood and on the city. Some 
of the activities of Hull House are social clubs, play 
clubs for children, boys’ clubs with vocational 
training opportunities, cooking and dressmaking 






ILLINOIS 



The Chicago Temple or the First 

Methodist Episcopal Church 
of Chicago 

This is Chicago’s most beautiful 
office building. It is the envy of 
the great cities of the country. The 
ground floor has the usual store 
or shop rooms, but besides the 
offices there is a commodious au¬ 
dience room for worship with its 
great pipe organ. This building 
is a sign of the movement that 
some of the money made in this 
state may be turned into beauty 
as well as into practical use. _ A 
twelve-foot cross tops the spire, 
which is 568 feet high. There are 
ten stories in the tower and 
twenty-one stories below. One floor 
besides is below the street level. 
The foundation pillars, or caissons, 
go down 135 feet to solid rock. 

classes, textile weaving 
and pottery classes, 
classes in English for 
foreign adults, citizen¬ 
ship classes, reading 
rooms, and large classes 
in music, art, and dra¬ 
matics. Jane Addams 
is the authoi of a num¬ 
ber of hooks, of which 
Ttventy Years at Hull 
House and The Spirit of 
Youth and the City 
Streets are the most im¬ 
portant. 









NOTED MEN AND WOMEN 


175 


The Hall of Fame.—In the city of New York is a 
building called “The Hall of Fame for Great 
Americans.” Within this building on bronze tab¬ 
lets are inscribed the names of the great men and 
women of this country. A committee of one hun¬ 
dred eminent men and women decide what names 
may be placed on the walls of this temple. Nomi¬ 
nations for election may be made by any one, but 
the name submitted must, in the case of men, have 
fifty-one votes of the committee; women must have 
forty-seven votes. Abraham Lincoln, Ulysses S. 
Grant, and Frances E. Willard are the names Illi¬ 
nois has in “The Hall of Fame.” 

QUESTIONS 

1. Name two or three critical times in the history of Illinois. 

2. What trait of Lincoln’s was a part of his greatness? 

3. What great problems was he interested in? 

4. Does the life of Grant show that it is wise to get an education? 

5. Was Douglas a great man or just a shrewd leader? 

6. What excellent trait had Governor Ford? 

7. Why was Logan a noted man? 

8. Wherein was War Governor Yates like Logan? 

9. For what was Eugene Field noted? 

10. Do you think there is any connection between the life of Frances E. 

Willard and prohibition? 

11. Give two facts regarding Jane Addams. 


CHAPTER XIV 
PHYSICAL ILLINOIS 

The Story of the Making of Illinois Lands Was Un¬ 
known to the Indian.— ‘The Indian in his childlike 
simplicity loved the wide-stretching plains, the 
beautiful river valleys, and the quiet woodlands 1 
of Illinois. Yet, while he hunted on the prairies 
or paddled his canoe down the quiet rivers, he 
never once thought of the many, many millions of 
moons that had passed in making this wonderful 
land of Illinois. 

Why did the grass grow so rich and so high? 
Why did great rock ledges crop out so abruptly? 
Why were there so many low ranges of hills ? He 
did not know; he never even tried to guess. He 
never guessed that underneath the rich grasses and 
quiet woods there were prizes of untold wealth. 
He never dreamed that some day his white brother 
would come to hunt a mineral game as he had 
hunted the animal game, and that this white 
brother would prize the Illinois lands more highly 
than had he. 

To-day there are sure and certain answers to 
all this, for the story of the formation of the rocks 
and coal and soil can be very accurately told. 

1<f The present forest area is about two million acres.” Forest 
Conditions of Illinois, Hall and Ingall. (Total area is 56^043 square 
miles.) 


176 


PHYSICAL ILLINOIS 177 

Illinois is Thousands of Years Old. —.Illinois is a 
part of the great basin lying between the Appa¬ 
lachian and the Rocky Mountains. It is the bub 1 
of the Mississippi Valley. Those who know tell us 



Photograph by Phil E. Church 

Limestone Ledge 


Outcropping or ledge of a thick strata of limestone. Try to imagine 
how many years were necessary for the sediment of sea animals to form 
such a thick layer. This ledge is near Savanna. 


that many thousands of years have passed in the 
making of the Illinois prairies. It is bard to be¬ 
lieve, but it is true, that Illinois was once under the 
sea; at another time it was covered with great 
tropical ferns from fifty to sixty feet high; and at 
a still later time it was under a blanket of snow and 

'“This position of Illinois Valley within the greatest developed river 
basin of the world is most advantageous.” Page 6, Bulletin 17, State 
Geological Survey (Illinois), C. O. Sauer. 





178 


ILLINOIS 



ice several thousand feet in thickness. The making 
of a land like Illinois, rich in building stone, in 
minerals, in coal, surfaced with fertile plains, takes 
thousands of years, the working of wind and water 


Photograph by Phil E. Church 

The Limestone Region 

Here is a thick ledge of limestone; an outcropping of an upper or 
later strata. This is in Wild Cat Park, near Hamilton. 

and glaciers, and all kinds of weather. What a 
range of climate Illinois has seen, from that of 
Alaska to that of Florida! 

The Limestone Formations.—Many years ago al¬ 
most all of the present Mississippi Valley lay 
under a shallow sea. Slowly at the bottom of this 







PHYSICAL ILLINOIS 


179 


sea gathered the fine sediment of the remains of 
corals, shellfish, and other sea animals, and this, as 
it hardened, formed the limestone 1 underlying the 
Illinois lands. 



Photograph by Phil E. Church 

Thick Outcropping of Sandstone on Rock River 
This layer of sandstone is about sixty feet in thickness. 


Why Illinois Has Sandstone Quarries and Artesian 
Wells.—From some cause this shallow sea which 
covered the Mississippi Valley became more and 
more shallow until in many places land appeared. 

1( ‘Nearly all the rocks of Illinois are sedimentary, that is, they were 
formed in the sea. These sedimentary rocks of the state are so 
thick that the deepest well-borings, in many instances more than a 
thousand feet in depth, have not penetrated to the bottom of the sedi¬ 
mentary rock . 1 ’ The Geography of Illinois, I). C. Ridgley. 




180 ILLINOIS 

On the shores of these islands and peninsulas the 
waves beat and the winds blew, forming long sand 
bars and great sand banks. In this way were built 
up the great beds of sandstone which lined the 


The Twin Sisters 

This limestone formation is called the Twin Sisters. It is about two 
miles north of Savanna. 


Photograph by Phil E. Church 


shores of the inland sea, and so in the northern part 
of Illinois are found sandstone layers, or strata. 
Now the sandstone layers of southern Wisconsin 
and of northern Illinois have the same general dip 
or inclination that the surface has, and since north¬ 
ern Illinois is really lower than Wisconsin, the 
water of the rain and snow of southern Wisconsin 
sinking into the ground finally makes its way 








PHYSICAL ILLINOIS 


181 


through these great sandstone layers to Illinois. 
When men dig for building stone, they uncover 
layers of sandstone rock, and when others sink 
artesian wells, they meet in the sandstone strata 
the waters that have fallen on the prairies of 
southern Wisconsin. 

The Coal Strata,—Gradually, very gradually, 
after millions of years, this great shallow sea was 
filled and Illinois became a great marsh or swamp. 
Now a new age began. Great marsh plants and 
mammoth ferns grew year after year, and year 
after year this luxuriant growth fell down. From 
this, great peat beds were formed which now are 
our coal strata. Then the land sank, the sea cov¬ 
ered Illinois once more, and limestone layers were 
laid down again. In this way rock and coal layers, 
or strata, were formed, one above another. 

The Ice Age.—These almost endless ages were fol¬ 
lowed by the Ice Age. A change from the southern 
or almost tropical climate, in which mammoth ferns 
and marsh plants grew, brought Illinois an arctic 
climate in which all life disappeared. From Lab¬ 
rador, fields of ice and snow over a thousand feet 
thick moved slowly southward, and the northern 
part of North America was in large part covered 
by this massive blanket of ice. At one time almost 
all of Illinois, except the northwest corner, the 
southern tip of the state, and a narrow strip lying 
between the Illinois and Mississippi rivers, was 



The ice sheet extended farther south in Illinois than in any other 
state. The southern edge is 1600 miles from the Labrador center of the 
ice. Many of the great bowlders in Illinois travelled over five hundred 
miles in the ice from the Lake Superior region. The fertile soil formed 
in glacial times is the greatest single source of the national wealth of 
Illinois. Much of the mineral wealth goes back to the Ice Age. The 
greatness of Illinois is in large part due to her glaciers. 


182 






PHYSICAL ILLINOIS 


183 


under this thick sheet. In Illinois this continental 
glacier went farther south than in any other state. 
This sheet of ice brought with it great stones and 
immense quantities of soil and gravel. This great 
glacier came down over Illinois and retreated sev¬ 
eral times. Once it seemed to come like a vast arm 
south and west out of Lake Michigan; and when it 
melted there were left long, low ranges of hills and 
lowlands and shallow lakes between that had no 
drainage. The material that the ice brought down 
was blown by the winds and ground by the waves 
until it became the wonderfully rich prairie land 
which makes Illinois farms so famous. 

Results of the Ice Age.—The Ice Age did more for 
Illinois than any of the preceding geologic ages. 
The great sheets of ice leveled ridges and left every 
part of the state easy of access by railroads. The 
sand, clay, and gravel of the glacial drift give al¬ 
most limitless material for pottery, tile, roadmak¬ 
ing, and building purposes. The glaciers brought 
to the state ground-rock materials which have 
plant foods that make Illinois one of the first states 
in agriculture. 

Illinois a Sloping Plain.—The surface of Illinois is 
an almost unbroken plain sloping very gently from 
the higher borders of the north and east to the bot¬ 
tom lands of the Mississippi on the south and west. 
This great sloping plain is highest at the Lake 
Michigan and Wisconsin edge and lowest at the 


184 


ILLINOIS 


southern border. From Chicago to Cairo the dif¬ 
ference in level is about three hundred feet. Yet 
Illinois has some high hills that are over one thou¬ 
sand feet above the sea level. The highest point is 

Charles Mound (1264 
feet) in Joe Daviess 
County in the north¬ 
western part of the 
state. There is in the 
extreme southern por¬ 
tion of the state an¬ 
other group of hills 
where the highest point 
is a little over one 
thousand feet. How¬ 
ever, these hills are ex¬ 
ceptions. 

The River Basins.— 

The state is drained by 
the Mississippi and its 
branches. Once a very 
small part was in the 
basin of the Great Lakes, and this part was 
drained by the Chicago River. That is a thing 
of the past, for the Chicago River, now a part 
of the Drainage Canal system, empties into the 
Des Plaines, which unites with the Kankakee to 
form the Illinois River. Next to the Ohio, the 
Illinois is the largest eastern branch of the Missis- 










PHYSICAL ILLINOIS 185 

sippi. Rainfall in over one half of the state finds 
its way into the Illinois, and as a highway in early 
times it had a very important influence on the his¬ 
tory of the state. The smaller basins are those of 


Looking Up the Mississippi near Savanna 

One of the beauty spots of Illinois. A high limestone cliff is in the 
foreground. 

Rock River in the northwestern part of the state, 
which is also a branch of the Mississippi; the 
Wabash in the southeastern part, which sends its 
waters to the Ohio; the Kaskaskia, which empties 
into the Mississippi about one hundred miles south 








186 


ILLINOIS 


of the Illinois; and the Big Muddy, which drains 
part of the extreme southern portion of the state. 

The Natural Wealth of Illinois.—The wealth that 
Nature gave Illinois is very great. It is so great 
that it is difficult for us to realize how vast it is. If 
it is set down in dollars, the totals of the natural 



Photograph by Phil E. Church 

The Des Plaines River near Riverside 


The woodlands with their luxuriant undergrowth are found along the 
river bottoms. This is a bit of a river valley with the usual wooded 
banks. 

products for a single year reach millions and bil¬ 
lions—figures that few really understand. Think 
for a moment how much coal is mined every year, 
how much is burned every winter, how much goes 
by in trains every day, and recall that this has been 
going on for a good many years, and then remem¬ 
ber that not one per cent has yet been mined in 







PHYSICAL ILLINOIS 


187 


Illinois, and that we have still in the ground 99/100 
per cent of our coal! 

Some Census Figures of Illinois Wealth .—If the 
returns from the two chief sources of the raw or 



Photograph by Phil E. Church 

Rock River 


A view of Rock River and valley near Grand Detour. Could any one 
fail to see beauty in a scene like this—and there are many such in 
Illinois. 

natural products of the state are taken for one year 
alone (1922), the amounts can be shown as follows: 

Farm Products (1922).$847,000,000 

Mineral Products (1922) .. .$322,000,000 

The rich soil, the coal beds, the oil pockets, the 
limestone, the sandstone, the lead and zinc, the clay 







188 


ILLINOIS 


and gravel are only the chief gifts of Nature to Illi¬ 
nois. The value of the products from these sources 
for a single year can be set forth as follows: 



Photograph by Phil E. Church 


Ohio River Front, Cairo 

The concrete wall at the right is the Levee. This is necessary to keep 
the city from being flooded during high water. As in early times, the 
Ohio River is an important highway. 


Farm Products . 

Coal. 

Pig Iron. 

Clay Products .. 

Oil . 

Coke . 

Cement . 

Stone . 

Sand and Gravel 


$ 847 , 000,000 

$ 169 , 000,000 

$ 59 , 000,000 

$ 27 , 000,000 

$ 19 , 000,000 

$ 18 , 000,000 

$ 10 , 584,000 

$ 6 , 473,000 

$ 5 , 411,000 














PHYSICAL ILLINOIS 


189 


If the total of these natural or raw products of 
one year (1922) is taken, and Illinois is compared 
with other states to which Nature has given great 
gifts, Pennsylvania ranks first, Texas second, Illi¬ 
nois third, California fourth, and Oklahoma fifth. 

Pennsylvania .$1,412,000,000 

Texas . $1,404,000,000 

Illinois.$1,127,000,000 

California . $890,000,000 

Oklahoma . $791,000,000 

These figures show what the natural or raw 
products are. If the manufactured articles made 
from this raw material are counted, the total 
amount of the raw products must be multiplied by 
five. 

QUESTIONS 

1. What per cent of the area of Illinois is in woodlands? 

2. How long is a moon? 

3. Can you name any places in the state where you have seen out¬ 

cropping rock? 

4. How far below the present surface of the ground was once the 

bottom of the sea that covered Illinois? 

5. Have you ever seen large stones and bowlders in the fields? Where 

did they come from? How did they get there? 

6. Why are there no high hills in central Illinois? 

7. Which of the “ chief gifts of Nature to Illinois’ ’ did the Indians 

use? 

8. Look at the bar graphs showing totals of the raw products of the 

state and say whether it is a poor third or a good third, and why. 

9. What is the item that makes a manufactured article worth four 

or five times the raw material in it? 

10. Which would you name as Nature’s chief gift to the state? 







190 


ILLINOIS 


EXERCISES 

1. Draw an outline map of Illinois. 

a. Locate: 

(1) Lake Michigan, (2) Mississippi River, (3) the Ohio, 
and (4) the Wabash. 

b. Show the parts of the state which the Ice Sheet did not touch. 

c. Draw the rivers mentioned on pp. 184-185. 

d. Invent a title for this map. 

2. Draw a second outline map of the state. 

a. Turn to page 268. Then show on the map where coal is found. 

b. Show where oil is found. 

c. Invent a title for this map. 

3. Draw three bar graphs, all to the same scale (one inch to one 

hundred million dollars). 

a. The first to show the total products of the state in 1922. 

b. The second to show the farm products in 1922. 

c. The third to show the mine and quarry products in 1922. 

d. Invent a title for this group of graphs. 

4. Draw two bar graphs. (Ten inches long to show total coal re¬ 

serve in Illinois.) 

a. One to show total coal reserve. 

b. One to show amount of coal mined. 

c. Invent a title for these graphs. 


CHAPTER XV 


THE CLIMATE OF ILLINOIS 

Climate and Weather Are Different.— One should 
be careful not to confuse climate and weather, for 
although they are often used one for the other, they 
are, nevertheless, quite different-. Climate covers 
a long period of time; weather, a short period. 
Climate sums up the hot and cold spells, calms and 
violent storms, wet and dry periods; weather is one 
of those spells or storms. Climate is the average 
of many parts; weather is one of those parts. 
Weather is a single occurrence; a series makes 
climate. 

Factors of Climate. —The chief elements of cli¬ 
mate are temperature, rainfall, winds, sunshine, 
and cloudiness. 

Temperature. —Temperature is the degree of heat 
measured by a thermometer, and depends on eleva¬ 
tion above sea level and on latitude. The average 
elevation of Illinois above sea level is about six hun¬ 
dred feet; therefore this slight elevation has little 
effect on the climate of the state. Its latitude, al¬ 
though nearer the equator than the pole, brings it 
well within the north temperate belt and gives it 
two distinct seasons, summer and winter. 

The Seasonal Range of Temperature in Illi¬ 
nois .—Temperature in Illinois has a wide range 
during a year. The highest temperature ever offi- 

191 


192 


ILLINOIS 


daily recorded was 112° F. (in the shade) ; al¬ 
though this temperature is rare, the thermometer 
often registers 100° F., and may remain at 90° or 
95° F. for a month or six weeks. In the winter 

season temperature of 
— 10° F. and — 15° F. 
are not uncommon, 
while the lowest the 
mercury ever reached 
was — 30° F. The win¬ 
ter average for the 
months of December, 
January, and February 
is about 15° F. 

Daily Range .—The 
daily changes in tem¬ 
perature, if the sky is 
clear and there is no 
wind, are very regular. 
From about two o ’clock 
in the afternoon when 
it is the warmest, the 
thermometer gradually 
falls until the sun rises the next morning, when the 
temperature slowly rises until just before mid¬ 
afternoon. The average daily range for a year is 
about 12° to 15° F. 

Sudden Changes .—One of the outstanding fea¬ 
tures of the temperature of Illinois is the fre- 



Temperatttre 

This bar graph shows the average 
temperature in degrees (Fahrenheit) 
over the state for 1924. The dotted 
line shows the average temperature 
over the state for a number of years. 
It may be read thus: in January the 
average temperature was 21.9°. 





























THE CLIMATE OF ILLINOIS 


193 


quency of sudden and abrupt changes. Two of 
the most extreme cases on record are here given: 
on November 11-12, 1911, the temperature fell 61° 
F. during a twenty-four hour period. On March 
29-30, 1895, the temperature rose 48° F. in twenty- 
four hours. If the state lay by the sea, or under 
the shelter of a high range of mountains, there 
would be few abrupt changes; but situated as Illi¬ 
nois is, over six hundred miles from the Atlantic 
Ocean, over five hundred miles from the Gulf of 
Mexico, and more than fifteen hundred miles from 
the Pacific, these bodies of water have little influ¬ 
ence on the temperature of this inland state. 

Rainfall.—The distribution of rainfall depends 
on winds, storm paths, nearness of large bodies of 
water, and mountains. Since there are no moun¬ 
tains in the state, and no large bodies of water near, 
the distribution of rainfall is very uniform. 

Sources .—The Golf of Mexico and the Atlantic 
Ocean are the only bodies of water that affect the 
rainfall of Illinois, for the Pacific is excluded by 
the high ranges of the Rocky Mountain system. 
The prevailing westerly winds from the Pacific 
lose nearly all their moisture on the western or 
windward slopes of the mountains. The surface 
features lying between the Atlantic Ocean and the 
Gulf of Mexico on the one hand and Illinois on the 
other are not high enough to exclude the moisture, 


ILLINOIS 


194 

and thus an ample supply is carried to the state for 
her abundant crops. 

Distribution .—There are two features in the dis¬ 
tribution of rainfall in Illinois which make it a 



1924 Rainfall 
Average" * 


over the state 1.79 inches 
January was 2.44 inches 
inches, while the average 


The bar graphs above show the rainfall 
for the state by months in 1924 against the 
average (for many years) rainfall. It is 
read: in January, 1924, the rainfall was 
, and the average over a number of years for 
; in November the rainfall in 1924 was 1.23 
was 2.4 inches. 


great farming state: first, sixty per cent of the rain¬ 
fall of the year comes during the growing season 
(March to September), and this, of course, is the 
time it is needed; and, second, during the long and 











































THE CLIMATE OF ILLINOIS 


195 


pleasant fall, when the crops must be harvested, 
the rains are much less frequent; accordingly, the 
farmers can gather their crops with little fear of 
loss from spoiling. 

Snow .—Snow is considered as rainfall by the 
Weather Bureau. The snowfall of a certain small 
area is collected, melted, and then measured as if 
it were rain. Snow is a great aid to the farmers, 
for it serves as a blanket protecting the grasses and 
fall-sown cereals from severe cold. It also has, as 
has rain, some small value as a fertilizer, for it 
brings to the soil a small portion of nitrogen, which 
is a valuable plant food. 

Thunderstorms .—Most of the summer rainfall 
comes during the passage of thundershowers. 
These storms are well known by the violent gusts 
of wind, the huge thundercloud bringing rain, the 
lightning and thunder, and the short duration of 
the whole storm. Considerable damage often re¬ 
sults from the wind and lightning, and sometimes 
from hail. These storms generally come in the 
early part of the afternoon, last an hour or two, 
and water a comparatively small area. 

Winds.—Illinois lies in the direct path of the pre¬ 
vailing westerly winds which blow with great 
steadiness throughout the year except when inter¬ 
rupted by storms, “lows,” 1 or “highs.” These 

1 A “low” is a short expression for a low-area storm, which means 
a storm whose center has low atmospheric pressure. The winds will 
blow toward this center, counter-clockwise. 


196 ILLINOIS 

“lows” are the winds which, shifting from south¬ 
west to south and then to the southeast, carry the 
rainfall from the Gulf or the Atlantic to Illinois. 
When the wind is in the southeast, it commences to 



De Soto, Illinois 

The remains of the business district of De Soto after the tornado of 
March 18, 1925. The whole town was laid to the ground. 


rain and continues to do so uptil the wind has 
shifted to the north or even around to the west. 
Two of the more important paths for these 44 lows’’ 
as they pass over the continent from west to east 
cross the northern part of the state in the vicinity 
of Chicago. The presence of a “low” or a “high” 
generally brings about a wind with a higher veloc- 




THE CLIMATE OF ILLINOIS 197 

ity than the average. It is because of this fact that 
Chicago has earned its nickname of the “ Windy 
City.” During the winter and spring the winds 
are strong and boisterous compared to the quiet 
summer breezes. 



Photograph by Phil E. Church 


Ruins of Murphysboro 

Results of the tornado of March 18, 1925. The storm struck only the 
northern part of the town. 

Tornadoes.—Illinois has had its full share of the 
tornadoes that are common in the Mississippi Val¬ 
ley. These storms are violent, whirling, funnel- 
shaped clouds that bring destruction to a path 
from one hundred feet to a mile in width. Their 
course is toward the east. The most severe have 
been those of 1896,1917,1920, and 1925. 




!98 ILLINOIS 

Sunshine.—Sunshine is closely connected with 
temperature; the more the sun shines, the higher 
the temperature. Illinois is not near a large body 
of water; hence there is little moisture in the air 
when the temperatures are high. Accordingly few 
clouds will be formed and the result is a sunshiny 
climate. In fact, during the summer there is 
scarcely a day that the sun does not shine almost 
all day. 

Length of Growing Season.—The average growing 
season, taken from the date of the last killing frost 
in the spring to the first killing frost in the fall, is 
from five months in northern Illinois to seven 
months in the southern tip of the state. This af¬ 
fords plenty of time for the growth of the great 
corn crop for which Illinois is famous. 

Some Results of the Climate of Illinois.—The loca¬ 
tion of the state determines that it shall have long, 
hot summers, cold winters, and plenty of rainfall. 
With the growing season hot and sunshiny, with 
rain coming when most needed, it is no wonder 
that Illinois with its wonderfully fertile soil pro¬ 
duces crops that lead almost every list in the 
Union. 

Illinois with its daily variations of temperature, 
with its changes from rains and snow to dry and 
clear weather, with its seasonal swing from a cold 
winter to a warm summer, with its constant winds 
bringing invigorating changes, and its location in 


THE CLIMATE OF ILLINOIS 


199 


the middle latitudes, has produced a people whose 
energy and progress take rank with those of the 
best in the world. 

The climate of the state has more influence on 
its history than have Indians, traders, generals, or 
statesmen. If the Ice Age would return, our farms 
would disappear, our mines close, and our cities 
would be deserted. If a tropical climate would 
come to our state, we would loaf in the shade of 
palm trees, need little clothing or food, do as little 
work as possible, and become a lazy people. But 
our climate is in large part back of our greatness. 
It gives us vim, it spurs us to big tasks, it makes 
our minds alert, and our bodies active. Nature 
has given us great gifts in a level area, a fertile 
soil, and rich deposits; but her greatest gift is a 
stimulating climate that moves us to make use of 
these great grants of nature. 

QUESTIONS 

1. Wherein does weather differ from climate? 

2. Name the chief factors in climate. 

3. What determines the temperature of Illinois? 

4. Compare the seasonal with the daily range in temperature. 

5. What in general affects the rainfall of a country? 

6. Where does the water that reaches Illinois in rain come from? 

7. What two facts of the rainfall of Illinois help the farmer? 

8. What are two benefits of snow? 

9. What is a “low”? 

10. Why has Illinois a sunshiny climate? 

11. Why is weather important to the farmer? 

12. Why is climate important to our history? 


CHAPTER XVI 


TRANSPORTATION 

Water Routes Make Trade Centers.—The fur 

traders first found and used the routes to Illinois. 
From the French settlements on the St. Lawrence 
River they followed the highway of the Great 
Lakes and then entered the early central route of 
the state, the Illinois River. Following another 
waterway, the Mississippi River, the French made 
their way north from New Orleans and again 
reached the heart of our state by the Illinois River. 
The two trade routes met in the Illinois Valley. It 
was in the Illinois Valley that the early trading 
posts were set up, and these posts later grew to be 
important industrial centers of the state. Thus 
it was the Illinois River that had such an impor¬ 
tant influence on the history of the state. At the 
ends of this big artery of trade grew two other 
posts, Kaskaskia on the Mississippi and Chicago 
on Lake Michigan. The former gradually declined 
and finally disappeared beneath the river; the lat¬ 
ter developed into one of the greatest industrial 
and commercial centers of the world. The Missis¬ 
sippi and the Ohio also developed centers: Shaw- 
neetown on the latter; East St. Louis, Alton, 
Quincy, and Galena on the former, and Cairo on 
both. 


200 


TRANSPORTATION 


201 


River Boats .—The French of early Illinois first 
used the kind of boats the Indians had—canoes and 
pirogues . 1 On the Mississippi River traffic these 
were soon given up, for canoes, because of their 



Keystone View Company 

Illinois River at Peoria 

Six barges loaded with automobiles on the Illinois River. 


light draft, were valuable only in shallow water; 
and because of their light weight they were desira¬ 
ble in crossing portages, and pirogues were not 
large enough and were easily upset. The bateaux , 2 
forty or fifty feet long and ten feet wide, propelled 

1( ‘Pirogue’ ’ (pi-rog'). A large canoe made from the trunk of a tree, 
which was shaped fore and aft like a boat and hollowed out or dug 
out so as to make room for the cargo and passengers. 

* “Bateaux” (ba-toz'). Flat-bottomed boats. 




202 


ILLINOIS 


by sails and oars, were better suited to the large 
rivers, and their cargoes could be covered against 
storms. The trip from Illinois to New Orleans was 
often made in twelve days, but the return was a 
matter of time and labor, for it usually took three 
months. (The journey to Canada could be made 
in about the same time.) There were many dan¬ 
gers : attacks by Indians, caving-in of high banks, 
and snags of old trees whose roots and branches 
often caught and upset the boats. 

Land Routes.—Transportation by land was on 
horseback or in wagons drawn by horses or by 
oxen. Kaskaskia and Cahokia very early built a 
connecting road, but usually Indian trails and buf¬ 
falo paths were found that were wide enough for 
two wagons to pass and the tough sod gave a fair 
foundation for the early roads. These were im¬ 
proved by corduroy 1 in the swampy places. The 
chief routes ran from Cahokia to Peoria, Peoria 
to Galena, and Peoria to Detroit. Two-wheeled 
carts only were found on these roads in the early 
Prench days, and it was on these rude carts that 
flour, beaver skins, and reindeer and buffalo hides 
were hauled to the river banks. They were drawn 
by horses or oxen and were used by the settlers as 
they made their weary way over the prairies. At 
Chicago in 1800 a half-breed made his living by 

1 Logs placed side by side across the road making the road look 
corded or furrowed like corduroy fabric. It was no pleasure to ride 
over such a road. 


TRANSPORTATION 


203 


transporting goods to the Illinois River with 
wagons and oxen. The first white couple who mar¬ 
ried in Chicago (1804) took a wedding trip to De¬ 
troit on horseback. 



Chicago Historical Society 

Prairie Schooner 

This wagon (sometimes called a Conestoga wagon) was driven by 
Wm. Gladman from Baltimore to Deersville, Ohio, in 1811. It is now 
in the Illinois Boom of the Chicago Historical Society. This kind of 
wagon was common in Illinois during the early days of statehood. Many 
an early settler traveled in this kind of conveyance across more than 
one state to reach Illinois. 

Steamboats.— River .—It was during the first dec¬ 
ade (1818-1828) of the state’s history that the 
steamboat appeared on Illinois waters. Soon the 
bateaux began to disappear. But the commerce on 














204 ILLINOIS 

the river routes grew slowly; for New Orleans was 
the only market, and that was glutted with the 
produce of the competing states of Kentucky, Ten¬ 
nessee, and Mississippi. The river traffic above 
Alton consisted chiefly in taking supplies to the 


Chicaao Historical Society 

Early Steamboats 

Here aTe two kinds of early steamboats, one with the rear and one with 
the side paddle wheels. Both types are still in use. 

miners at Galena and bringing back the lead mined 
there. As the foreign commerce of New Orleans 
grew, the products of Illinois brought better prices, 
the volume of trade increased, and steamboats mul¬ 
tiplied and made their way up the branches of the 
Mississippi. In 1828 steamers came up the Illinois 
River to Naples; two years later to Peoria. In 1837 
six steamboats made regular trips between St. 




TRANSPORTATION 


205 


Louis and Peoria, and one steamer made trips 
between Peoria and Pittsburgh. Other steamboats 
ascended the Sangamon, and even Dixon and later 
Rockford on Rock River were reached. Their 
numbers grew until the more rapid transportation 
of the railroads led to the decline of river traffic 
soon after the Civil War. To-day the Ohio River 
towns depend in large part on the steamboats, but 
most of the river traffic at present is confined to 
bulky and heavy freight such as coal, stone, and 
sand. 

Lake .—The natural highway of the Great Lakes 
was of small value until the Erie Canal (1825) 
broke the barrier. Then it was evident that time 
could be saved in shipping goods to Illinois via 
Buffalo and Chicago rather than by New Orleans 
and St. Louis. In 1834 a regular line of steamers 
was plying between Buffalo and Chicago. Goods 
could be laid down in St. Louis by way of Chicago 
at one third less freight cost than by the Mississippi 
route. Lake commerce climbed at once to un- 
thought-of limits. It must be kept in mind that 
all the time there were more sailing vessels clear¬ 
ing from Chicago than steamboats, but the change 
of fuel from wood to coal has gradually decreased 
the value of the slow-going sailer. To-day the wa¬ 
ter commerce of Illinois is almost entirely lake 
commerce, and the lake commerce of Illinois is the 
lake commerce of Chicago and South Chicago. 


206 


ILLINOIS 


The local or short-haul freight amounts to little. 
The Chicago imports by water are iron ore, lum¬ 
ber, coal, and salt; the exports are wheat, flour, and 
corn. The lake traffic has kept railroad rates to 



Keystone View Company 


Lock on the Illinois and Michigan Canal, Marseilles, Illinois 

For the most of the one hundred miles of this old waterway there is 
no canal traffic, but between Joliet and La Salle there is some to remind 
one of the prosperous times of its history. 

such a low point that the rates on grain from Chi¬ 
cago to New York cannot be equaled for a similar 
distance anywhere in the world. Chicago’s lake 
traffic is not keeping pace with that of other lake 
ports such as Buffalo, Cleveland, and Duluth, for 
the railroads with their shorter routes are gradu¬ 
ally absorbing a larger and larger share of freight 
in and out of Chicago. 





TRANSPORTATION 


207 


Canals.— Illinois and Michigan Canal . 1 —The in¬ 
fluence of the Erie Canal, opened in 1825, was soon 
felt in Illinois. The people of Illinois had good 



Lake Michigan and the Mississippi are connected by water. The 
direct route is: 

1. The Chicago River, 6 miles. 

2. The Chicago Sanitary District Canal, 33 miles. 

3. The Illinois and Michigan Canal, 63 miles 

4. The Illinois River, 13 miles. 

5. The Illinois and Mississippi (Hennepin) Canal, 75 miles. 

The total distance is 190.4 miles. As a route for the transportation 
of freight or passengers, this waterway is practically unused. 

reason for believing that a canal joining Lake 
Michigan and the Illinois River would make the 
state as prosperous as New York. For over twenty 
years the people planned and struggled to dig this 

1 Read other references: pp. 10, 96, 98. 






208 


ILLINOIS 


canal. At last in 1848 it was opened. For the next 
twenty years the Illinois and Michigan Canal 
proved the boon its promoters had promised. The 
price in lumber at Ottawa dropped from sixty to 
thirty dollars a thousand. No more log cabins 
were put up. Frame houses became the rule. 
Lumber before 1848 had come to the state from 
New York and Pennsylvania by the Allegheny, 
Ohio, Mississippi, and Illinois rivers; after 1848 
it came from Wisconsin and Michigan by the lakes 
and the canal. Chicago became the greatest lum¬ 
ber market in the world. The prairies were now 
easy of access, and manufacturing, chiefly in 
articles made of wood, advanced rapidly. The 
canal gave Chicago its first great impulse. Wheat 
had been the chief export of the state and had gone 
to the eastern markets by way of New Orleans, but 
after 1848 the grain of Illinois went to the east by 
the lakes and the canals. But wheat soon dropped 
to second place, for there was now easy passage 
for the more bulky corn. Since corn could be 
easily and cheaply exported, it soon began to be 
the great grain crop of Illinois. Coal, pork, and 
lard were also shipped out of the state in large 
quantities. Besides lumber and salt, the canal fur¬ 
nished cheap transit for railroad iron and foundry 
products, which went to the construction of a rival 
in transportation that put an end to the canal. 
There was also a third class of freight, stone and 


TRANSPORTATION 


209 


sand, which was of the short-haul type. A fourth 
class, which was through freight,—sugar, molasses, 
cotton hemp, and tobacco,—passed through Illinois 
on the way to the Atlantic coast. The canal 
proved a very good investment, for the tolls in the 
end more than paid for it. 



A Canal Boat 

A common picture on the canal seventy-five years ago. (Kindness of 
Mortimer G. Barnes.) 


But the life of the canal was short; in fact, it 
had hardly been completed when railroad building 
began in the state. Within twenty years from the 
opening of the canal, the more rapid transporta¬ 
tion of the railroads 1 tempted freight from the 
water highway, the gross tolls decreased, and the 
rapid decline of this artery of trade began. To¬ 
day, for the most of its length, it is a sorry and 

1 Especially the Bock Island road, for it follows the canal. 








210 


ILLINOIS 


neglected ditch, since there is canal traffic on only 
the stretch from Lockport to La Salle. But the 
cities along the canal grew still more rapidly with 
the coming of the railroads. Only one town, Chan- 
nahon, shunned by the railroads, lies deserted and 
forsaken, with grass growing in its once busy 
streets, a relic of the prosperous days of the canal. 

The Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal.— In 1900 a 
canal twenty-two feet deep was opened from Chi¬ 
cago to Lockport. The chief object of this water¬ 
way was to reverse the flow of the Chicago River, 
and in this way to keep Lake Michigan free from 
the sewage of the city. Ever since the opening of 
this canal there have been efforts to extend this 
deep waterway to La Salle, the head of naviga¬ 
tion on the Illinois River, and thus to have a deep 
channel from Chicago to New Orleans so that 
ocean-going vessels could load in Chicago. But 
this would require a channel from Lockport to 
New Orleans twenty-two feet deep. Since the fed¬ 
eral government maintains a channel from La Salle 
to St. Louis for boats drawing six feet of water, 
a channel of eight feet to Cairo, and of nine feet 
to New Orleans, it is very doubtful that the cen¬ 
tral government will very soon, if ever, go to the 
great expense of keeping a channel of twenty-two 
feet open for the long distance from La Salle to 
New Orleans. It is a pleasant dream to think of 
sea-going vessels making St. Louis, Peoria, and 


TRANSPORTATION 


211 


Chicago as ports, but a deal of dredging will keep 
it from coming true. 

The Illinois Waterway.— Part of this lakes-to-gulf 
plan was advanced in 1908, when the people of 
Illinois voted twenty million dollars in bonds to 
improve the water route from Lockport to La Salle 
and to erect power plants. The work on this part 
of the lakes-to-gulf system has crept along very 
slowly. Of this enterprise (the Illinois Waterway) 
only one lock and dam, near Marseilles, is (1924) 
completed. The more sensible plan now urged is 
that the Illinois Waterway with its nine-foot chan¬ 
nel be completed and that the Illinois River and 
the Mississippi, from the mouth of the Illinois to 
the mouth of the Ohio, be deepened to nine feet. 
Thus there will be opened a waterway of sufficient 
depth for barge fleets to be moved from Chicago 
to New Orleans without breaking up the fleets or 
transferring the freight. 

The Hennepin Canal.— The Hennepin, or Illinois 
and Mississippi Canal, connects the Illinois River 
at Great Bend and the Mississippi River at Rock 
Island. 1 This canal was opened in 1907. There is 
no freight traffic on this canal. When the Illinois 
Waterway is completed, no doubt, it will be an 
important branch canal. 

The Future of Waterways .—The people of Illi¬ 
cit also has a feeder, twenty-nine miles long, that runs from the 
canal straight north to Sterling on Rock River. 


212 


ILLINOIS 


nois of to-day have grown up in a railway age. It 
is hard for them to see that transportation by 
inland-water routes will increase the wealth of the 
state. A study of the table below should cause us 
to see the advantage of water-borne traffic. In 
addition, electric power can be developed along 
the water routes. 

One Ton of Freight 

Miles for 

♦ Bit One Dollar 


Horse and wagon . 4 

Anto truck. 20 

Railroad . 100 

New York Barge Canal. 300 

European canals . 500 

Illinois Waterway . 150 

Great Lakes freighters. 1000 

Ohio and Mississippi (downstream) . 3000 


Plank Roads.— By the middle of the nineteenth 
century the citizens of Illinois saw clearly that 
the unimproved and impassable roads were the 
bar to prosperity and that good transportation 
was the key to successful progress. About the time 
the Illinois and Michigan Canal was opened, the 
rage for plank roads began. It went rapidly over 
the state. Laws were passed legalizing plank-road 
companies which soon sold stock, built plank roads, 
charged tolls, and were able, in some cases, to pay 
all expenses and forty-two per cent profit besides. 
This is the record of a plank road from Chicago 
to Elgin. Within four years six hundred miles of 











TRANSPORTATION 213 

plank roads were to be found in the state, and over 
a million dollars were invested in these highways. 
These roads, however, were soon eclipsed by the 
railroads. 


Illinois Central Railroad Company 

The Mississippi 

This engine was built in 1834 and was in service in the state of 
Mississippi until 1892. It was then repaired and under its own steam 
went to Chicago to the World’s Columbian Exposition in 1893. When 
it was in active service it had a crew of three men: engineer, fireman, 
and wood-chopper. It was always on lines owned or acquired by the 
Illinois Central. 

Railways.—The position of Illinois to-day as a 
great and prosperous state depends on railroads. 
The active and intelligent men in the state never 
thought, in 1828, when the Baltimore and Ohio 
Railroad laid its first wooden rails out of the city 












214 


ILLINOIS 


of Baltimore, that a movement was started which 
would make Illinois one of the leading states in 
the Union. Charles Carroll, one of the signers of 
the Declaration of Independence, realized the 
value of the new invention, for he said, as he 



Chicago and North Western Railway 
First Locomotive in Chicago 


The Pioneer came to Chicago in 1848 by way of the Great Lakes. 
It ran on the Galena and Chicago Union Kailroad, making trips at 
first from Chicago to Elgin. It burned wood, as did all the early 
locomotives. 

placed the first foundation stone of this railroad, 
“I consider this among the greatest acts of my life, 
second only to the signing of the Declaration of 
Independence. ’ ’ 

The First Railway in Illinois.— In 1835 the state 
gave financial hacking to the Illinois and Michi¬ 
gan Canal. This benefited the northern part of the 




TRANSPORTATION 


215 


state. The southern part of the state asked for 
aid for railroads. The state gave aid and planned 
and began the construction of so many railways 
that soon all work had to be stopped for lack of 
money. When the crash came, a railroad from 
Meredosia to Jacksonville, about twenty-five miles, 
was completed. An engine was obtained, and trains 
were run, but the expenses could not be met. The 
engine was taken off and mule teams used. Finally 
the road was sold and later abandoned. To-day it 
is part of the Wabash system. 

The Great Railroad Decades.— 1850 - 1860 .—The ten 
years just before the Civil War were the years 
that saw the beginnings of the great railroad sys¬ 
tems of Illinois. First the Illinois Central was 
started; then the North Western, 1 which went to 
Elgin and later to Rockford and Galena. The 
Burlington Route followed, beginning by using 
the North Western tracks to Geneva and then 
down the banks of the Fox River to Aurora and 
later to Mendota. The Rock Island road went at 
first only to Joliet, but soon was extended to 
La Salle and on to Rock Island. The Springfield 
and Alton Railroad by 1854 had a through route 
from Alton to Chicago. The Chicago, Milwaukee 
and St. Paul road also had its beginning in this 

1 In 1850 the Chicago and North Western Railway Company of to-day 
had forty-three miles of railway in operation. This was from Chicago 
to Elgin, and was then known as the Galena and Chicago Union Rail¬ 
road Company. 



216 ILLINOIS 

decade. Illinois had one hundred miles of railroad 
at the beginning of this period and twenty-eight 
hundred at its close. 

1870 - 1880 .—The Civil War checked railroad 
growth, but with the war over a decade of still 


Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad 

A Passenger Train in 1865 

This is a wood-burning engine. The wood is seen in the tender. 
This picture was taken at- Savanna. The Mississippi Eiver is in the 
background. 

greater railroad building came in the period be¬ 
tween 1870 and 1880. In these ten years over three 
thousand miles of railroad were built. To-day 
there are thirteen thousand miles of main-track 
steam roads in Illinois. 

Illinois a Distributing Center.— The large number 
of railroads centering in Chicago and the water 




TRANSPORTATION 


217 


competition for carrying freight have given the 
Central West the cheapest freight rates in the 
world. The average freight rate in Illinois is fif¬ 
teen per cent less than the average rate of the 
United States. Raw materials of almost every 



A Passenger Train of To-day 

Taken at Savanna on the Chicago, Burlington, and Quincy Railroad. 


kind are at hand, and excellent transportation 
with these low rates give her an advantage not 
enjoyed by other states. Thus the state, with Chi¬ 
cago, Peoria, and East St. Louis, has become the 
center of distribution of raw materials and manu¬ 
factured articles. This is one of the chief elements 




ILLINOIS 


218 

of her greatness. A proof of this is that in Illinois 
are found the greatest mail-order houses of the 
world. When the water transportation of the state 
has been developed and the rail and water traffic 



Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad 

A Powerful Freight Engine 

This engine, of the most modern type, can haul long trainloads of coal. 


work together and not, as now, against each other, 
Illinois will he a still greater distributing center. 

Chicago’s Greatness Depends on Railroads.— The 
great railway systems end in Chicago. No railroad 
runs through Chicago. Reaching to the uttermost 
parts of the country, these railroads with their 
long arms grasp and turn into the great city the 








TRANSPORTATION 


219 


produce of mine and field. Here these materials 
are sold, made up, and distributed throughout the 
world. The back country of Chicago is greater 
than that of any other great city of our land. New 
York has territory for production and distribution 
on one side only; the same can he said of New 



The postage rate is eight cents an ounce (or fraction of an ounce) 
in a zone (or part of a zone). From Chicago to Cheyenne for an ounce 
the rate is eight cents; from Bryan to Beliefonte, eight cents; from 
Cleveland to Iowa City, sixteen cents. 

Orleans and San Francisco; but Chicago has pro¬ 
ductive territory that looks to her from every 
point of the compass. The railroads touch every 
productive center, bring in the raw materials, and 
return the manufactured articles to supply every 
necessity and every luxury. 

Railroad Aids.—The railway net covers Illinois. 
Few places are more than twenty miles from a 
railroad. These places are being drawn into the 











220 


ILLINOIS 


railway web by electric cars and motor trucks. 
The interurban lines and concrete roads are put¬ 
ting the out-of-the-way places in close touch with 
the railroads. Thus in the most remote places in 
the state it will soon pay to produce supplies for 
distant markets. One hundred years ago the most 
favored parts of Illinois had to devote three 
months or more to a return trip to market; the 
day is almost here when the most distant farmer 
can make his return trip to market in three hours. 
The steam, electric, and hard roads of Illinois have 
decreased distance almost one-hundredfold. 

QUESTIONS 

1. Why did the explorers follow water routes? 

2. Why were the boats used by the Indians not employed? 

3. What were three means of transportation in the early times? 

• 4. Why did steamboats make a great change? 

5. What brought the Great Lakes into use as a route? 

6. What effect has the Great Lakes route had on the railroads? 

7. What were some results of the building of the Illinois and Michigan 

Canal? 

8. Why do railroads endanger canals? 

9. Give reasons to show that ocean ships are not likely to come to 

Chicago by the Mississippi and Illinois rivers. 

10. Give some facts about the Illinois Waterway. 

11. Tell of the Hennepin Canal and its feeder. 

12. Show that waterways are advantageous. 

13. Why are there no plank roads to-day? 

14. Tell the history of the first railroad in Illinois. 

15. What great railroad systems had their beginnings in 1850-1860? 

16. What makes Illinois a great railroad state? 

17. What makes Chicago such a great railroad center? 

18. Wherein is Chicago better situated than some other great cities? 


CHAPTER XVII 


AGRICULTURE 

Illinois a Farming State.— There were two reasons 
for the rapid growth of Illinois in the early days 
of the state: the land was cheap, and the land was 
fertile. To-day there is no longer any fertile land 
that is cheap, but Illinois is still one of the fore¬ 
most of the farming states. If care is taken by 
the farmers to keep up the fertility of soil, and 
to adapt crops to both soil and markets, Illinois 
will continue to be one of the leading farm states 
of the Union. 

Changes in Farming.— In the past century many 
changes have come to the farmers of Illinois. The 
following seven are of interest: 

1. Location of Farms .—In the early years of 
the history of Illinois no farmer would locate any 
distance from a navigable stream, for there was 
no hope to market his surplus produce unless he 
was near a river. This meant that he must clear 
a space in the woodland of the river bottom to 
plant his grain, and this was ten times the labor 
of turning over the prairie sod. The need of trans¬ 
portation and water and fuel forced him to cling 
to the waterways. To-day the best and largest 
farms are not along the rivers. The steam and 
electric cars and motor trucks furnish transporta- 
221 


222 


ILLINOIS 


tion, coal gives the fuel, and windmill and gas 
engine supply an abundance of water for stock. 

2. Kind of Crops .—The pioneer farmers in the 
state raised corn chiefly and that as food for their 
families. Their surplus crops were chiefly animal 



Keystone View Company 

Eye Field in Illinois 

Illinois is eighth in the production of rye. Minnesota stands first. 


products. The skins and hides of both wild and 
domestic animals were the chief exports. As the 
farmer ventured on to the prairies, wheat became 
the important crop; but since Illinois is no longer 
a new farming state, wheat is no longer its chief 
crop and is passing to newer lands and the farm- 





AGRICULTURE 


223 


ers are studying the special products best suited 
to the soil. To-day the state can be divided into 
three quite distinct parts: in the northern section 
mixed farming is the rule; in the middle portion 
grains are raised; in the south there are special 



Keystone View Company 


Strawberry Field, Joppa 

Special crops flourish in southern Illinois. Massac and Pulaski counties 
are noted for the quantities of strawberries they grow. 

crops, such as sweet potatoes, tobacco, cotton, and 
fruit. 

3. Yield of Crops .—One of the most striking 
contrasts in the history of farming in Illinois is 
that between the number of farmers and the num¬ 
ber of bushels of grain they raised. In 1840 each 
person engaged in farming produced on the aver- 








Corn in Illinois 

^ orn is still king. Each dot stands for five thousand acres of corn. 
Illinois is the second state in the Union in the production of corn. Iowa 
is first. (After Ridgley, The Geography of Illinois.) 

224 



AGRICULTURE 


225 



age 219 bushels of grain; in 1920 each farmer pro¬ 
duced 1329 bushels of grain; in other words, a 
farmer of 1920 produced over six times as much 
as a farmer of 1840. This remarkable increase is 


International Harvester Company 

Harvest Time in Illinois, La Grange 

A tractor belt drives a thresher. The straw is delivered into the barn 
by a chute. A fine farm picture. 

due to the change from a wasteful, ignorant farmer 
who did everything by hand, to a careful, intelli¬ 
gent, and scientific farmer who used modern labor- 
saving and time-saving machinery. The early set¬ 
tler worked his farm with oxen—horses were a 





Oats 

. Each do* represents five thousand acres of oats. Illinois stands second 
in the output of oats with Iowa first. (After Bidgley, The Geography 
of Illinois .) 


226 




































































AGRICULTURE 


227 



luxury; the modern farmer works his farm with 
tractors—horses are incidental. 

4. Price of Crops .—The early farmers of Illi¬ 
nois were used to low prices for any surplus they 


International Harvester Company 

Corn Husking by Machinery 

On the left is a corn picker or husker. It is drawn and operated by 
the tractor, shown in the middle. A truck, on the right, receives the 
husked ears of corn. This combination saves much labor in the corn 
belt of the state. 

had to sell. With poor transportation their mar¬ 
kets were always glutted. Wheat at times sold as 
low as ten cents a hushel. As the working people 
of our country gradually turned to industry, the 








There are five thousand acres for each dot. Illinois is third in pro¬ 
ducing wheat. It is mostly winter wheat. Kansas stands first and North 
Dakota second. (After Ridgley, The Geography of Illinois.) 

228 





































































































AGRICULTURE 


229 



growth of population caught up with and even 
passed farm production, and consequently prices 
rose. This brought an increased value to farm 
lands; hence the position of the farmer has im¬ 
proved rapidly. The increased yield and improved 


International Harvester Company 

A Tractor Pulling a Spike-Toothed Harrow, Maywood 
This tractor is doing the work of three or four horses. 

prices have brought great gains to the farmer class. 

5. Number on Farms .—While the number of 
acres in plow land increases, and the yield of the 
farms grows larger, and the price for farm prod¬ 
ucts goes up, still the percentage of our farm 
population has been growing less year after year. 





Apples in Illinois 


Each dot stands for five hundred acres. Illinois is eighth in the pro¬ 
duction of apples. Washington is first, New York second, and Michigan 
third. (After Ridgley, The Geography of Illinois.) 

230 




AGRICULTURE 


231 


In 1890 thirty-one per cent in Illinois were on 
farms; in 1900 twenty-five per cent; in 1910 nine¬ 
teen per cent; and in 1920 fourteen per cent. This 
drift of the population from country to town will 



International Harvester Company 


A Tractor and a Double Rotary Disk, Melrose Park 

Four horses would have to regt often, if they were put on to this disk. 
If horses were used, it would take two men and six horses, and then 
the man and the tractor would do more a day. 

continue until two changes occur: first, the farmer 
must be able to make a comfortable living; second, 
the farmer must pay better wages to his help. 
Until that time comes and these two changes 
arrive, the shift of people from open country to 
crowded city will continue. The one item needful 
to bring about these changes is a better price for 





232 ILLINOIS 

farm products; or, in other words, it must be 
easier to gain a comfortable living on a farm than 
in the city in order to have the population drift 
to the open country. The agricultural conference, 


Modern Dairy Barn 

The interior of a model dairy barn near Oregon, Illinois. The milking 
machines and the individual drinking troughs can be seen. Here are 
steel stanchions and cement floors. The fine Holstein cows are clean and 
well kept. 

advised by President Coolidge, proposed, among 
others, two remedies: first, government protection 
for farm produce, such as is now given to the prod¬ 
ucts of the industries; second, cooperative market¬ 
ing by farmers, such as is now practiced by organ¬ 
ized fruit growers. 








AGRICULTURE 


233 



International Harvester Company 

Power Binder 

One man takes the place of two or three and the tractor relieves 
three or four horses. Thirty-five acres are done where a century ago 
three acres was a wonderful feat for one man with a cradle. 

6. Machinery on Farms .—The early farmers in 
Illinois had four tools that have almost disappeared 
to-day. Those four were in great demand: the ax, 
with which he built his log house, cleared his land, 
and cut his fuel; the scythe, with which he cut hay; 
the cradle, for harvesting wheat and rye, barley 
and oats; and the flail, for separating the grain 
from the straw. The pioneer farmer plowed and 
harrowed with a yoke of oxen. The ox, the flail, 
the cradle, the scythe, and the ax are seldom used 







234 


ILLINOIS 



now. A tractor turns the soil with several plows 
at a time; the mower, the side-delivery rake, and 
the hay loader change haying from hand work to 
machine work; the self-binder and thresher make 


Shipping Cotton from Illinois 

Loading baled cotton into cars at Mound City, Pulaski County. 

harvesting a lighter task; to-day much less labor 
is needed and the work is pleasanter. In the farm¬ 
house are many labor-saving devices to make the 
duties of the housewife easier. 

7. Life on Farms .—One hundred years ago, liv¬ 
ing on a farm was a narrow, lonesome affair. 





AGRICULTURE 235 

Neighbors were few and far away, roads were 
often impassable, and word from the outside came 
a few times a year when a peddler stopped to sell 
bis wares, or a neighbor returned from a distant 


, International Harvester Company 

Threshing in Illinois 

A tractor furnishes power to run a threshing machine. A farmer 
thus becomes his own thresher, and consequently more independent. 
One hundred bushels of wheat or three hundred of oats can be threshed 
by this machine in a day. 

market. Almost every task had to be done by band 
except preparing the soil for a crop or banling 
logs to the bouse for fuel or to the stream for 
market. The corn grown was made into flour or 







236 ILLINOIS 

hominy; ham and bacon with wild game for variety 
were the usual animal food. The clothing, made 
either from flax and wool, or from the skins of 
animals, meant long hours of labor. Every day 


Cotton Cleaning 

and all day the pioneer was busy in keeping even 
with his task of winning a living. To-day the motor 
car, the telephone, .the phonograph, the radio, and 
the daily mail keep the modern farm in instant 
touch with a world that is now very near, and hard 
roads give all-the-year-round access to neighbors 
and markets. 






AGRICULTURE 237 

Important Illinois Crops.— In value, all crops con¬ 
sidered, 1 Texas ranks first, Iowa second, and Illi¬ 
nois third. If the important crops—corn, wheat, 
oats, barley, rye, hay, potatoes, and apples—are 
taken and a table is made for the thirteen great 
agricultural states and points are recorded as is 
done in an athletic contest, the score can be given 
below: 2 




Minn . 

Mich. 

*5 

s 

£ 

to 

Ps 

Ohio 

Wis. 

Iowa 

tO 

to 

Kas. 

Ind. 

e 

o 

Wash. 

Corn 

2 

7 

12 

13 

11 

5 

8 

1 

3 

9 

4 

16 

18 

Wheat 

3 

11 

13 

17 

10 

7 

18 

16 

5 

1 

8 

15 

4 

Oats 

2 

3 

10 

12 

9 

8 

4 

1 

5 

14 

13 

7 

16 

Barley 

7 

2 

11 

8 

25 

18 

5 

12 

9 

3 

21 

1 

14 

Bye 

8 

1 

3 

12 

5 

11 

4 

13 

10 

15 

6 

40 

16 

Hay 

5 

10 

9 

1 

4 

8 

3 

6 

7 

12 

11 

2 

15 

Potatoes 

12 

4 

5 

1 

2 

9 

6 

18 

17 

20 

19 

10 

16 

Apples 

8 

27 

3 

2 

4 

5 

23 

15 

31 

20 

21 

6 

1 

Sum of 
ranks 

47 

65 

66 

66 

70 

71 

71 

82 

87 

94 

96 

97 

100 

Bank in 
contest 

1 

2 

3 

3 

4 

5 

5 

6 

7 

8 

9 

10 

11 


This table shows Illinois first in farm value of 
these chief crops; in other words, Illinois raises 
all the great crops and ranks high in them all. 
The table also shows that a state like Iowa or 
New York may rank first in more than one crop 
yet not have the highest place when the other 
important crops of our country are considered. 

1 See p. 1142, TJ. S. Agriculture Yearbook, 1923. 

2 The rankings are computed on the farm value of these crops for the 
years 1921, 1922, and 1923. 






















238 


ILLINOIS 


An Important Farming Industry.— There is a very 
important farm enterprise yet to be mentioned-— 
the animal industry. Illinois takes front rank in 
this branch of farming, too. The raising of horses 
and mules, fat and milch cattle, sheep and hogs 
is the main business of many farmers of this state. 
In comparing the farm value of all those animals 
by states Iowa ranks first, Illinois second, and 
Texas third. 

Two Kinds of Specialized Farming.— Within easy 
shipping distance of the great cities, market gar¬ 
dening and dairy farming have grown to great 
proportions. The former requires small farms, in¬ 
tense cultivation of the soil, and much labor. It 
means work for some one day and night, for the 
vegetables have not only to be tilled .with great 
care, but they must he prepared for market late 
in the afternoon, hauled to the city in the evening 
or in the small hours of the night, so as to be 
ready for sale at the great markets early in the 
morning. The yield per acre is greater than from 
any other kind of farming, but the labor cost is 
high. Near the great cities dairying has been 
highly developed. Unlike truck farming, it does 
not need to be located so close to the large cities, 
since the products can he transported a longer dis¬ 
tance without harm. Unlike the vegetable gar¬ 
dener, the dairyman must keep his barns, cows, 
milk houses, and, in short, everything connected 


AGRICULTURE 


239 


with his enterprise, scrupulously clean. Unlike 
market gardening, dairying does not require such 
hard and long hours, and to a person who loves 
animals it is a constant source of pleasure. 

QUESTIONS 

1. Of the two facts true of the farming lands a century ago, which 

is no longer true to-day? 

2. Why was it necessary a hundred years ago to locate a farm near 

a river? 

3. Why is it unnecessary to-day? 

4. What were the chief crops a century ago? To-day? 

5. What is meant by mixed farming? 

6. Why are more bushels of grain per farmer raised to-day than a 

century ago? 

7. What has caused prices of farm products to rise? 

8. What is one of the causes of the movement of population from 

country to city? 

9. What remedies have been proposed? 

10. What other hand work common on farms a century ago are not 

mentioned in Chapter XVII? 

11. Name the labor-saving appliances that can be found in farm homes. 

12. Compare farm life of the past and present. 

13. Name five branches of the animal industry. 

14. Which would you prefer, market gardening or dairy farming—and 

why? 

EXERCISES 

1. Make bar graphs to show the comparison of prices of farm lands 

to-day and in 1800 (see page 3, Chapter VIII). Use a scale of 
$32 equals one inch. Use the average price of farm land per 
acre in your neighborhood to-day. 

2. Make bar graphs to compare the price of wheat per bushel in early 

Illinois with that of to-day. See daily papers for the price to-day. 
Use a scale of one inch equals forty cents. 

3. Compare Iowa and Illinois in the table on page 5 and take three 

crops and show that Iowa leads Illinois. Take three other crops 
and show that Illinois leads Iowa. Take three and show that 
New York leads both Illinois and Iowa. 


CHAPTER XVIII 

MANUFACTURES 

Factors in Manufacturing.— For a district to grow 
in manufactures, it is necessary to have raw mate¬ 
rials, power, transportation, capital, and labor. 
Illinois has all of these, and the result is a leading 
manufacturing state. Illinois stands third in the 
value of manufactured products, with Pennsyl¬ 
vania and New York leading. 

A Century Ago.— The pioneers of Illinois saw 
nothing that could be called a factory. A few of 
the earliest flour mills were run by horse power; 
most of them were turned by water power. There 
were a few sawmills and a number of very small 
distilleries. Almost all the cloth the early people 
of Illinois had was made at home. Calico, manu¬ 
factured in Xew England, cost about a dollar a 
yard and was used chiefly for wedding gowns. 
Probably half of the corn was made into flour at 
home with mortar and pestle, but as the years 
went on, grist mills were built and thus much time 
for the farmers Was saved. Xo doubt as much corn 
and rye and barley were used at the stills as at the 
mills. The factories were few and far apart, even 
in Civil War days. But the coming of the rail¬ 
roads made a great change. 

The Industrial Age.— From 1870 to the present, 
Illinois has had a marvelous industrial history; 

240 



MANUFACTURES 241 

the fertile soil, the opening of mines and quarries, 
the growing net of railroads gave an ever-expand¬ 
ing market for every kind of manufactured article, 


Swift and Company 

Government Inspection, Alton 

Dressed hogs on an overhead conveyor are passing the government 
official for the final inspection. All meat from the great packing houses 
is safe and fit for food. 


and prosperity came to every activity of the state. 
Factories multiplied; the number employed in 
manufacturing rose from 5500 in 1860 to 876,000 





242 


ILLINOIS 



in 1920. Thirty-four per cent of the employed 
persons in Illinois to-day are in the industries. 1 

Slaughtering and Meat Packing.— In the industry 
of slaughtering and meat packing Illinois leads 


Swift and Company 

Hardening Lard, East St. Louis 

The refined lard is passed over a big cylinder filled with circulating 
water and then over one containing brine. Fifteen per cent of a fat 
hog is lard. Much lard is exported to England and Germany. 


all the states; also this is the leading industry of 
the state. Chicago far outstrips the other cities in 

1 The next large groups are: fourteen per cent in agriculture, and 
thirteen per cent in trade. 







MANUFACTURES 243 

this line, with Peoria, East St. Louis, and Alton 
as other centers. Meat packing is the more impor¬ 
tant branch of this industry. A large part of the 
finished products are for export or for distant 
domestic markets; the heavy exports are lard and 


Swift and Company 

Beef to Feed the Nation 

Three thousand sides of beef hang at one time in this great cooler. 
From there to refrigerator cars and then to the branch coolers in all 
the great cities beef goes to all parts of our continent. 

pork, for the great population of the United States 
consumes our output of beef and mutton. In this 
industry the disposal of waste was an important 
problem, but it has been solved to an extent that 
the big packing houses can boast that nothing is 
wasted; in fact, the waste material to-day yields 










244 ILLINOIS 


a profit. This has been brought about by a few 
great companies absorbing many of the smaller 
companies and by developing the glue, soap, tal- 



Swift and Company 

Illinois Makes Sausage for the World 


Pork and beef from the plains of the United States united with all 
kinds of spices from every corner of the earth go into the many kinds 
of sausage that are made in Illinois. Almost every country of the globe 
eats Illinois sausage. 


low, and fertilizer industries along with slaughter¬ 
ing and meat packing. 

Foundry and Machine Shop.— Foundry and ma¬ 
chine-shop products rank second in the manufac¬ 
tures of Illinois. In these shops the products of 




MANUFACTURES 


245 


the iron and steel industry are made into engines, 
stoves, tools, automobile parts, machines of all 
kinds, and hundreds of other products. Chicago 



Illinois Steel Company 


Blast Furnace, South Chicago 

Coke, limestone, and iron ore go into these great furnaces, and pig 
iron is the result. The gas from the furnaces first goes up (note the 
highest pipes in the picture) and then comes straight down again and 
goes through the washer (tower just left of center with two great pipes 
coming from its top), where it passes up through water that is coming 
down through this tower. The gas, thus washed, passes on to the boiler 
room, where it is used to make steam for power. 


leads in this line; Joliet, East St. Louis, and Rock¬ 
ford are other centers. 

Printing and Publishing.—If book and job print¬ 
ing are combined with the printing of newspapers 





ILLINOIS 


246 

and periodicals, the printing and publishing indus¬ 
try will take third place in the state. The great 
development of this industry is largely due to the 
central location of the state in the Middle West 



Illinois Steel Company 


Tapping Metal at Blast Furnaces, South Chicago 

After the slag has been run off the top of the molten metal, the 
white hot stream of iron is run into great ladles, and these are moved 
to the molding room where the metal is run into molds or forms for 
the “pigs .” 


and the splendid distributing facilities afforded 
by the railroads. The market of the great central 
portion of the country is easily reached from Illi¬ 
nois. The inventions of paper making from wood 
pulp, of the linotype, of photo-engraving, of roto- 





MANUFACTURES 247 

gravure, and of the cylinder press all aid to 
advance this industry. In the United States Illi¬ 
nois is, in number and circulation of daily pa¬ 
pers, third; in weeklies, second; and in monthlies, 
second. 


Illinois Steel Company 

Plate Mill Shipping Dock 

A traveling crane which picks up with an electromagnet these great 
steel plates and carries them to the flat cars, on which they are loaded 
for shipment. The plates weigh about two thousand pounds apiece. 
They are used in making boilers, tanks, steel cars, and ships. 

Men’s Clothing.— The making of wearing apparel 
for men takes fourth place in manufactures of 
Illinois. Ninety-five per cent of the men’s cloth¬ 
ing made in the state is manufactured in Chicago. 

Iron and Steel.— In the manufactures of Illinois 
the iron and steel industry ranks fifth. Like meat 

















248 


ILLINOIS 



packing, this industry requires great capital; and 
therefore it, too, has been concentrated into a few 
great companies. The main business of the iron 
and steel industries is to change iron into steel. 
The steel products of this branch of manufactur- 


Ward-Love Pump Corporation 

Test Room in a Pump Factory, Rockford 

Here the automatic electric house pump motors are given every test 
that cleverness in this line of work can devise. This factory is in 
Rockford, noted for the manufacture of all kinds of pumps. 

ing are: steel rails, rail joints, steel rods, wire, 
steel plates, axles, car wheels, and a hundred more. 

Other Important Industries.—The manufacture of 
agricultural implements at Chicago, Moline, Rock 
Island, and Canton, of railroad cars and coaches 
at Chicago Heights and Pullman, and of electri¬ 
cal machinery at Chicago, stand high in the indus¬ 
tries of the state. 










MANUFACTURES 249 

Important Industrial Centers.—The great manu¬ 
facturing centers of Illinois are Chicago, East 
St. Louis, Peoria, Rockford, and many others. 
Chicago leads in the value of products in almost 
every branch, but there are a few exceptions. 


Home of the Heider Tractor, Bock Island 
Bock Island is noted for the manufacture of agricultural implements. 
Here tractors are being assembled. (Kindness of Bock Island Plow 
Company.) 

Peoria stands first in the state in the making of 
hogsheads and barrels, and Rockford leads in the 
manufacture of knit goods and pumps. 

Two Paths in the Industries of Illinois.—There are 
two quite interesting facts about the growth of 
manufacturing in Illinois, and these two facts 
point in exactly opposite directions. The first is 




250 


ILLINOIS 


that manufacturing becomes “big business.” 
There are not nearly so many meat-packing com¬ 
panies as there were thirty years ago. The same 



International Harvester Company 

Painting Plows, Canton 

Plow frames when ready for painting are dipped in the paint and 
then pass along by an overhead conveyor to the drying room. The 
plant at Canton covers some twenty-three acres and can put out 100,000 
implements in a year. Plows, listers, beet pullers, corn planters, and 
cultivators are made at Canton. 


is true of the steel companies and the implement 
companies. The small companies were either 
driven out or were bought out by the larger com¬ 
panies. The second fact is that two thirds of the 








MANUFACTURES 


251 



International Harvester .Company 

Farm Machinery, Rock Falls, Whiteside County 
At the plant at Rock Falls are manufactured, besides the corn 
shellers in the picture, hay rakes, disk harrows, and peg-tooth harrows. 
This factory can put out 100,000 of these implements in a year. 

manufacturing concerns in the state are very 
small, with an annual manufactured output valued 
at less than twenty thousand dollars each. Over 
twenty-six hundred of these small factories are so 
small that the owner is the only laborer. It is 
quite evident that big business does not control 
all, and therefore any man with energy and almost 
no funds can be a manufacturer. And, further¬ 
more, almost every great company in the state 
started in a very small way. No man with even 
small funds need be daunted. 












252 


ILLINOIS 


Manufacturing Cities by Rank.— The value of the 
manufactured product gives a good picture of the 
importance of the manufacturing cities of the 



International Harvester Company 


A Tractor, Plowing, Lisle 

Three broad furrows are turned at a time. This tractor takes the 
place of at least six heavy horses; usually it would take nine horses 
to do this work. Furthermore, the tractor moves faster than do horses 
and rests less often. A tractor can keep up the hard pace day after 
day, week after week—horses cannot. 


state. Set in a list according to the value of the 
products, Chicago is separated far from the other 
cities of the state. Below is an array, according to 
the federal census of 1920, of forty-two important 








MANUFACTURES 


253 



The Elgin Watch Factory 


manufacturing centers with the value of their 
manufactured products for one year: 

1. Chicago .$3,657,000,000 

2. Joliet . 82,000,000 

3. East St. Louis. 77,000,000 

4. Rockford. 74,000,000 

5. Cicero. 57,918,000 

6. Peoria . 57,074,000 











254 


ILLINOIS 



Rockford Mitten and Hosiery Company 

The Knitting Mills of Rockford 

Rockford is noted for her knitting mills. All kinds of knit goods are 
manufactured here. 


7. 

Moline .. . . 

.. $44,000,000 

8. 

Granite City. 

43,000,000 

9. 

Chicago Heights .... 

41,000,000 

10. 

Decatur . 

38,000,000 

11. 

Alton . 

31,000,000 

12. 

Aurora. 

30,000,000 

13. 

Pekin . 

25,663,000 

14. 

Elgin . 

25,648,000 

15. 

Waukegan. 

24,000,000 

16. 

Quincy ... 

23,000,000 














MANUFACTURES 


255 



A Modern Gas Plant 

Near Chicago on the Drainage Canal is this great gas and coke plant. 
At the left the coal is received from the cars and is passed from 
building to building until at the right it enters the ovens, where the gas 
is extracted. From the foul gas the tar and ammonia are removed, 
thence to purifiers, from which the fuel and illuminating gas comes. 
The chief products from such a plant are: gas (heating, lighting, and 
fuel for open hearth furnaces), coke (fuel for cooking, for making pig 
iron, lime, smelting zinc and lead), ammonia (in refrigeration, as fer¬ 
tilizer, in making baking powder, matches, medicines), tar (paving, 
medicines, dyes, moth balls), and oil (benzine, T.N.T., dyes, perfumes, 
insecticides).. This plant uses 2000 tons of coal a day and produces 
1500 tons of coke. 


17. 

Springfield . 

.... $22,723,000 

18. 

Rock Island. 

22,350,000 

19. 

Freeport . 

18,000,000 

20. 

Kewanee . 

16,000,000 

21. 

Danville. 

15,000,000 

22. 

Maywood.. 

14,432,000 

23. 

Belleville . 

14,017,000 

24. 

Bloomington. 

11,000,000 














Western Electric Company 


Western Electric Company, Cicero 

Part of this great factory is in Chicago, the larger portion is in 
Cicero. Many thousand workmen devote their time to the manufacture 
of electrical supplies. This factory in large part makes telephones. 



Portland Cement Association 


A Cement Plant, La Salle 
Group of buildings at a Portland cement plant. 
256 






MANUFACTURES 


257 



A Room in a Men’s Clothing Makers’ House, Chicago 

Chicago is noted for her great output of ready-made clothing for 
men. Note the excellent conditions of light, air, and ample space for 
each worker. Notice, too, the great depth of the room. ('Kindness of 
B. Kuppenheimer and Company.) 


25. 

Cairo . 

.... $10,526,000 

26. 

Galesburg . 

10,352,000 

27. 

Evanston. 

9,791,000 

28. 

La Salle . 

9,533,000 

29. 

Blue Island. 

7,498,000 

30. 

Kankakee . 

7,287,000 

31. 

Jacksonville . 

7,126,000 

32. 

Streator . 

6,662,000 



















258 


ILLINOIS 



Cutting Room of a Men’s Wholesale Clothing Plant, Chicago 


Here with electrical cutters many garments are cut from the cloth 
in one process. Notice the lighting, both natural and artificial. It is 
a real wholesale factory; many thousand garments can be cut out in 
a short time. Almost all the ready-made men’s clothing made in Illinois 
is manufactured in Chicago. 


33. Murphysboro . $6,208,000 

34. Champaign. 5,000,000 

35. Canton . 4,000,000 

36. Mattoon. 4,000,000 

37. Ottawa. 3,223,000 

38. Centralia . 3,010,000 

39. Oak Park. 2,000,000 

40. Urbana. 1,450,000 

41. Forest Park. 1,016,000 

42. Lincoln. 784 000 






















MANUFACTURES 


259 



Hopper Paper Company 

Paper Mill, Taylorville 
A machine room where the paper stock is made. 


The Value of the Manufactured Products 


Chicago . 

Joliet . 

East St. Louis... . 

Rockford. 

Cicero . 

Peoria . 


$3,657,000,000 

82,000,000 

77,000,000 

74,000,000 

57,918,000 

57,074,000 


QUESTIONS 

1. Name five important raw materials found in the state. 

2. Can you name three sources of power used in the state? 

3. What five ways of transportation can you give? 

4. Who furnishes the capital (money) to build the great industrial 

plants ? 

5. During the last twenty years the value of the manufactured products 

of New York and Pennsylvania has increased two hundred forty 
per cent, but during that time the value .of the manufactured 









260 ILLINOIS 

products of Illinois was seventy-five per cent greater than that 
of her great rivals. How much per cent has the value of the 
products of Illinois increased in the last twenty years? 

6. How much does calico cost to-day? 

7. What is another name for a slaughtering and meat-packing plant? 

8. Name five “finished products” of the meat-packing industry. 

9. Find at home or in school some iron or steel products that are 

the products of the: 

1. Open-hearth furnace. 

2. Electric furnace. 

3. Cupola furnace. 

4. Bessemer furnace. 

5. Air furnace. 

EXERCISES 

1. If one puts into a double boiler rice, milk, raisins, sugar, and salt, 

and applies heat and labor, one may take out a pudding; thus: 
rice, milk, raisins, salt, sugar, and add heat and labor. 
Instead, what should one place into a hopper to take out pig 
iron? Make the drawing. What name should the hopper have? 

2. Make the drawings and write in the proper places the names of the 

things necessary to take out: 
a. corned beef, 
h. sausage. 
c. lard. 

3. Draw a hopper and write in the proper places: pig iron, car wheels, 

and the name of the hopper. 

4. Do the same with: pig iron and railroad rails. 

5. Do the same with: pig iron and radiators. 

6. Do the same with: pig iron and casting for agricultural imple¬ 

ments. 

7. Draw bar graphs to scale ($1,000,000 = 1 inch or $10,000,000 = 1 

inch) to show the value of the manufactured products of five 
cities of the state that are nearest you. 


CHAPTER XIX 

MINERALS 

Illinois Ranks High in Minerals.— Illinois is not 

only one of the greatest of the agricultural states, 
but it is also one of the greatest of the mineral- 
producing states. In 1922 the value of all the 
minerals produced within the state was almost a 



Coal Tipple, Zeigler, Franklin County 

The power house (partially shown at the right) furnishes power to 
run the cables which go to the top of the tipple to hoist the coal from 
the mines. At the top of the tipple the coal is dumped, screened, and 
as it passes over the picking tables the slate and stone are removed by 
hand. Then it is conveyed to the flat car by means of leading booms. 
Note that coarser grades of coal are being loaded in the cars farther 
to the left. 


261 








262 


A Strip Mine 































MINERALS 


263 



third of a billion dollars ($322,000,000). In its 
output of minerals Illinois is exceeded by only 
four states: Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Ohio, 
and Oklahoma. The first two states have very 
rich coal deposits; Ohio is noted for her produc- 


Electric Haulage, Montgomery County 
Mines with modern equipment haul the coal with electric motors. 

tion of pig iron, while Oklahoma’s wealth is in oil. 
Illinois stands first in production of common brick, 
fluor spar, and sand and gravel; second in its out¬ 
put of tripoli; third in coal, pig iron, asphalt, and 
peat; fourth in clay products, cement, and coke. 
The chief mineral products of our state, in the 
order of their value, are: coal, pig iron, clay prod¬ 
ucts, oil, and coke. 








264 


ILLINOIS 


Coal.— Value and Amount .—One of the chief 
sources of the greatness of Illinois is soft coal , 1 
which underlies in great quantities the southern 
two thirds of the state. The average annual pro¬ 
duction during the last ten years has been seventy 



Underground Haulage, Madison County 

In many mines the mule hauls the coal to the hoist. This is an unusually 
big mule for mine work. 


million tons, which was three times greater in 
value than the annual gold production of the 
United States and Alaska together. Over one 

1 Coal was found by Joliet and Marquette on their journey through 
Illinois in 1673. Coal near the American Bottom was discovered in an 
unusual way. In some way a tree took fire and even its roots burned. 
The roots kept burning with more and more heat until it was found that 
the roots reached to a seam of coal and the coal was on fire. Coal from 
this seam was shipped from Brownsville (now a deserted town) by the 
Mississippi River to New Orleans in 1810. 




MINERALS 265 

tenth (eleven per cent) of the coal of the Union 
is produced in Illinois. In the history of coal min¬ 
ing only one state, Pennsylvania, has produced 
more. Over one and a half billion tons have been 



Undercutting a Coal Seam, Madison County 

An endless chain, electrically driven and armed with steel, cut away 
the stone and slate just under the coal seam. Note the teeth about 
six inches apart on the chain, which is just under the platform on which 
the man is sitting. 


mined in Illinois since 1833, yet the total amount 
unmined is estimated at two hundred billion tons. 
Therefore, we have used less than one per cent of 
our coal. There are scattered over the coal-bear¬ 
ing areas of Illinois about one thousand mines, of 




266 


ILLINOIS 



Photograph by Phil E. Church 

Drift Coal Mine, Makanda, Jackson County 

A good example of a hillside entrance. This is a small mine owned by 

a farmer. 


which some yield only a few tons each year, while 
others produce a million tons annually. About 
one third of the mines ship coal in railroad cars; 
from the other and smaller mines the output is 
hauled by wagon or truck to adjacent consumers. 



MINERALS 


267 



The thickness of the coal strata varies from two 
and a half to fourteen feet. There are five differ¬ 
ent strata or seams of coal that are worked in the 
state. 

Mining Methods .—There are three kinds of coal 
mines in Illinois: the drift, the strip, and the shaft. 


Picking Table, Franklin County 

The slate is remoyed by hand as the coal passes on the steel conveyor. 

Where the coal bed outcrops on a hillside or ravine, 
the drift or slope method 1 is used. As the beds are 
horizontal or nearly so, the tunneling and the re¬ 
moving of the coal is easy. However, as the coal 

X A drift mine differs slightly from a slope mine in that the former 
follows the seam in on a level, while the slope mine is driven downward 
at an angle from the surface to reach a vein of coal that does not 
outcrop. 












268 


ILLINOIS 


is removed, the roof of the mine must be supported 
at frequent intervals by timbers or by leaving pil¬ 
lars of coal. In a mine of this type the coal is 
hauled to the surface without the need of being 

hoisted. There are few 
mines of this kind in 
the state. The strip 
method is employed 
where the coal lies so 
near the surface that 
the overlying covering 1 
of soil and slate can be 
stripped off by steam 
shovels. The coal is 
then scooped up by 
the steam shovels and 
dumped into flat cars, 
in which it is hauled to 
the consumers. Where 
the coal lies at a depth 
and does not outcrop, a 
shaft is sunk to the 
coal-bearing strata, and tunnels and rooms are 
dug from the coal. Here again the roof must 
be supported to prevent a “cave-in.” The coal is 
hauled by mules or by electric locomotives to the 
elevator shaft in small cars running on narrow- 
gauge tracks, and is then hoisted to the surface 

1 This is called the overburden. 








MINERALS 


269 


through the shaft, where it is loaded on flat cars. 
Some of these underground mines have shafts one 
thousand feet deep. Most of the Illinois coal comes 
from this kind of mine. 

Use .—About one third of all Illinois coal is used 
by the railroads. Another large fraction of the 

/ 2-3 4-5 



l 


Thick Fold 
of Limestone 
-QrOS 
-OH 



ah is the surface of the ground. If a well was sunk at 1, oil would 
be obtained, but not gas. If wells went down at 2, 3, and 4, they would 
yield gas, and oil also. A well at 5 would yield neither gas nor oil. 
Below the gas and oil, water is usually found. 


total output is used in the Chicago manufacturing 
area, for much of the manufacturing importance 
of Chicago depends on the nearness of the coal 
beds and ease with which good coal for power can 
be obtained. It is remarkable how much coal is 
consumed in the Chicago district. An amount 
equal to one half the annual coal output of Illinois 
(35,000,000 tons of various kinds) is used each 
year in the Chicago switching district. This is 
















270 


ILLINOIS 


more than the entire fuel requirements of all of 
the New England States, and is more than is used 
in all of the state of New York including New 
York City. Franklin, Williamson, and Saline 
counties, in the southern part of the state, pro¬ 



duce about one third of the Illinois coal. The coal 
from these counties is the best grade mined in the 
state. No anthracite coal is found in Illinois. 

Pig Iron.—Pig iron ranks next to coal in value 
in the state, although the annual production is 
only one fifth of that of coal. South Chicago and 
Joliet are the centers of this industry. Here the 
ore from the Lake Superior district is converted 
by great blast furnaces, which use coke for fuel, 



































































































MINERALS 


271 



Hydraulic-Press Brick Company 

Brick Machine, Sparland, Marshall County 
A brick machine that produces 50,000 bricks a day. 

into the pigs for the iron and steel industries. It 
is interesting to know that the iron ore from the 
mine to its pig iron state is not touched by the 
hand of man. Great steam shovels strip the sur¬ 
face material away at the mines, then other steam 
shovels lift it into railway cars. These take it to 
the docks where it is dumped from the cars to 
great bins and there runs through chutes to the 
holds of the ore-carrying vessels. At South Chi¬ 
cago mechanical conveyors unload the vessels into 
stock piles or into bins, and from these it is chuted 
into skip cars which are hoisted and at last dumped 
into the top of the blast furnaces. 




272 


ILLINOIS 


Clay Products.—By far the most important clay 
product produced in Illinois is common brick. 
Three fourths of the brick of Illinois are made in 
Cook County. Other important clay products are 



Oil Well 

Oil has just been “struck’’ and is now being pumped. This is near 
Mt. Carmel, Wabash County. 


paving bricks, terra cotta, drain tile, front and 
fire brick. These industries are widely scattered 
throughout the state, because of the abundance of 
suitable clays, and because they escape transporta¬ 
tion charges. Clays for pottery, sewer pipe, and 
enameled brick are found in more restricted areas; 




MINEEALS 273 

Whitehall, Macomb, Kankakee, and Monmouth 
are the chief centers of these products. No china 
clay is found in Illinois. 

Petroleum.—Petroleum has a producing area that 
covers about two hundred square miles in the 
southeastern counties. 

Here the oil has ac¬ 
cumulated under the 
archlike folds of the 
rocks lying far below 
the surface. In this 
field the wells vary in 
depth from 350 to 2400 
feet. In 1908 the pro¬ 
duction was greatest, 
when about one fifth of 
the oil of the Union 
came from Illinois. 

Since that time the oil 
output has been slowly 
but steadily declining. 

The decline has been 
gradual, due to the un- The ° il Fields of Illinois 
usually long life of Illinois wells. The oil is not 
refined in Illinois, but it is piped to northern In¬ 
diana. 

Natural Gas .—Natural gas generally comes with 
petroleum. In Illinois, gas has been found in such 
small amounts that it has been of no value except 








274 ILLINOIS 

for use near the wells by small consumers. Gas 
wells, like the oil wells, in Illinois are yielding less 
and less year after year. 

Coke.—The iron and steel industries depend 
upon coke. This very valuable fuel is made from 


Photograph by Phil E. Church 

Pumping Oil near Lawrenceville 

soft coal in two quite different ways: one by the 
beehive oven which is very wasteful, because the 
gases and many other valuable products pass off 
in the air, leaving only the coke; the other, the by¬ 
product coke oven, which saves the gas and other 
by-products. These by-products are many, and 
very valuable. The chief ones are tar, dyes, picric 









MINERALS 


275 



acid, from which high explosives are made, am¬ 
monia, fertilizers, and lampblack. In Illinois there 
are no beehive ovens; the by-product coke ovens 
are at the iron and steel plants of Chicago, South 
Chicago, Joliet, Granite City, and Waukegan. 


Photograph by Phil E. Church 

Limestone Quarry 

A limestone quarry at Lyons. This layer of limestone rock is over 
twenty feet in thickness. The rock is loosened by blasting, loaded into 
small cars by a steam shovel, hauled to the crusher (upper right of the 
picture) and made into ballast for railroad beds and filler for hard roads. 

Cement.— There are many brands of cement in 
the market, but they can be divided into three 
groups: slag, natural, and Portland cement. Slag 
(pozzuolano) cement is formed by mixing a small 
portion of slaked lime with finely ground volcanic 
ash or with blast-furnace slag. This cement is not 




276 


ILLINOIS 


manufactured in the state. Natural cement is made 
from limestone that is about one quarter or less 
clay. This is burned in a kiln at a low (as com¬ 
pared with the Portland process) temperature 

and the clinkers are 
ground very fine. This 
cement is mixed with 
sand and used for mor¬ 
tar and for the linings 
of all kinds of reser¬ 
voirs. There are not 
very many natural ce¬ 
ment factories in the 
United States; Utica 
has the only one in Illi¬ 
nois. Portland 1 cement 
is made by burning at 
a high heat (1400° C.) 
a mixture of limestone 
and either clay or slate 
or blast-furnace slag, 
and grinding the clink¬ 
ers so very fine that 
the cement will pass 
through a mesh that will hold water. The output 
of Portland cement in Illinois has been rapidly 



the oil is refined. 


1 Called Portland cement by its inventor, an Englishman, Joseph 
Aspdin, because it resembled stone quarried on the Isle of Portland 
near England. 





MINERALS 277 

increasing. Each year, as wood and iron supplies 
grow less, new uses are found for it in construc¬ 
tion work. In La Salle, Lee, and Pope counties 



Portland Cement Association 


Cement Kilns, La Salle 

The rotary kijns are the largest moving pieces of machinery in all 
industry. Usually the kilns are inclosed, but sometimes they are only 
partly housed as in this picture. Some of the larger kilns weigh over 
33,500 tons. The raw materials are burned at a temperature greater 
than that required to melt steel, 3,000° Fahrenheit. 

limestone and shale lie near the surface and can 
be easily quarried. Prom these raw products, with 
the aid of coal, the cement is made. In 1922 Illinois 
ranked fifth 1 in the value of cement produced. 


1 Fourth in the amount produced; see page 263. 






278 ILLINOIS 

Dixon, Oglesby, La Salle, and Golconda are the 
important centers of cement production. 

Sand and Gravel.—In 1921 Illinois ranked first 
in the value of sand and gravel produced. They 


Portland Cement Association 

A Limestone Mine, La Salle 

In a few instances raw materials for Portland cement manufacture 
are mined rather than quarried. This is a train of limestone leaving 
the mine entrance. 

are used mainly for building purposes and road 
making. Next in importance to building sand is 
the glass sand found near Ottawa and Streator 
where there are large glass industries. Forty-four 
counties report production of sand and gravel, the 
leaders being La Salle, Kane, Will, and Cook. 








MINERALS 


279 



Portland Cement Association 

Cement Sacks, La Salle 

This stock of tied cement sacks gives one a good notion of the great 
quantity of cement made. The sacks are securely tied and filled upside 
down through a corner of the sack. Each sack contains one cubic 
foot of cement. Ninety per cent of the cement produced is shipped 
in sacks. 

Zinc, Lead, and Silver.—There are two regions in 
Illinois where lead and zinc are found: in the 
extreme northwest and the extreme southeast. 
The northwestern field has been mined since early 
in the eighteenth century when it was worked by 











280 


ILLINOIS 


/ 


the French. Until recent years only the lead or 
galena was recovered from the ore, for the zinc 
that was found along with it was considered a 
nuisance and was dumped. To-day, however, the 



Fluor Spar Mine 


This is one of the largest fluor spar mines in Illinois, and Illinois 
leads the Union in the output of fluor spar. Here are seen the power 
house, tipple, and structures that house the picking tables and jigs. At 
the lower right are timbers for supports in the mine. 

zinc is a valuable part of the product. ISTo silver 
is found in the ore of this part of the state. In 
the fluor spar mines in southeastern Illinois lead, 
zinc, and silver are found as by-products. The ores 
are not smelted in the regions where they are mined 
because of the large amount of coal needed to re- 





MINERALS 


281 



duce the ore. Thus the ore moves to the coal fields 
near La Salle, Peru, Springfield, East St. Louis, 
and Danville. 

Fluor Spar. 1 —The fluor spar area is in the south¬ 
ern part of the state 2 and extends into Kentucky. 


Down in a Fluor Spar Mine 

Drilling holes in the spar in which to place charges of dynamite. The 
drill is run by compressed air. There are cartridges near the left foot 
of the drill operator. 

Illinois produces more than any other state in the 
Union. With the crude fluor spar is mingled lead, 
zinc, and silver; consequently the fluor spar must 
be washed to prepare it for market. Some of it 
is remarkably free from impurities, and it is often 

111 Fluor }} is a Latin word that means a flowing. 

3 Almost entirely in Hardin County. 



282 


ILLINOIS 


found ninety-eight per cent pure. Fluor spar, or 
calcium fluoride, is used as flux in the manufacture 
of open-hearth steel. It is also used in making 
enamel ware and opalescent glass. 1 The Illinois 



Steel Picking Table of a Fluor Spar Plant 


The impurities are picked out by hand as the larger pieces of spar 
pass in the conveyor. The foreign matter is thrown away. Into the 
central part of the conveyor is thrown the acid lump, which is made into 
an acid (hydrofluoric) for etching glass. 

fluor spar is more valuable than that of Kentucky 
simply because it is nearer to the great steel-pro¬ 
ducing 2 district of Chicago. 

Tripoli. —Tripoli is a light-colored siliceous 3 

1 The lining or under side of a Mason jar cover is a good example. 

2 Four fifths of the fluor spar produced is used in the making of steel. 

3 Pertaining to silica. 





















MINERALS 


283 



The Jigs of a Fluor Spar Mine 

After the foreign matter has been removed at the picking table the 
spar is ground and then is washed in these jigs. The heavier lead and 
silver sinks to the bottom and is thus separated. 

rock that is ground and used in soaps, cleansers, 
paint, wood-filler, glass, enamel, tile, and polish¬ 
ing mixtures. Much of it is made into disks and 
blocks for filters. It is mined in two southern 
counties, Alexander and Union. Illinois ranks 
second among the states in the production of 
tripoli. 

Pyrite and Sulphuric Acid.—Pyrite, a combination 
of sulphur and iron, is a by-product of the coal 
mines in Vermilion and Madison counties. Prom 
pyrite one of the large industries of Illinois, the 




284 


ILLINOIS 


manufacture of sulphuric acid, has been built. 
Sulphuric acid is also one of the by-products in 
the smelting of lead and zinc. 

Quarries .—Limestone .—Limestone is by far the 
most important product of the Illinois stone quar¬ 




ries. Most of it goes into railroad ballast and the 
base of concrete roads. Lime, made from limestone 
burned in kilns, is used in mortar; limestone finely 
ground, often called “land plaster,” is widely 
used to correct soil acidity. Some is used as blast¬ 
furnace flux. 




















MINERALS 


285 


Sandstone .—Sandstone is a source of sand for 
glass and bottle manufactures. The sandstone is 
found chiefly in La Salle County. 

Peat.—Although Illinois is the third state in the 
Union in the production of peat, the value of the 
product is not great. There are only two plants 
in the state: one at Morrison, the county seat of 
Whiteside County, and one at Manito, thirty miles 
southwest of Peoria. The peat is in beds or bogs 
which vary from three to eighteen feet in depth. 
At these plants it is dried and sold as fertilizer 
filler for about five dollars a ton. It takes one 
ton of coal to dry two and one half tons of peat. 

Value of Minerals.—A good picture of the relative 
value of the minerals produced in Illinois (1922) 
can be obtained by studying the tabulation below: 


Coal .$190,000,000 

Pig Iron . 36,000,000 

Oil . 20,000,000 

Clay Products ... 19,000,000 


Coke . $11,000,000 

Cements . 9,000,000 

Stone . 4,352,000 

Sand and Gravel. 4,016,000 


questions 

1. In what mineral product does Illinois rank first? Second? Third? 

2. What per cent of Illinois coal is still unmined? 

3. Why are there few slope coal mines in Illinois? 

4. Name two or three coal mining towns. 

5. Why are the blast furnaces on or near Lake Michigan? 

6. Why is so much common brick made in Cook County? 

7. Give three facts about the oil production of Illinois. 

8. Name some products of the coke ovens. 

9. What kind of cement is made in great quantities in Illinois? 

10. What are the chief uses of sand and gravel? 








CHAPTER XX 
GOVERNMENT AND PATRIOTISM 

The Anglo-Saxon Forms of Government.— Our Gov¬ 
ernment is Anglo-Saxon in Origin .—American citi¬ 
zens will always pledge allegiance to the flag which 
is the sign of liberty and of a free self-government. 
American citizens, young and old, should remem¬ 
ber that both liberty and free self-government were 
brought forth and held sacred by the Anglo-Saxon 
race 1 ; that it has taken long centuries of struggle 
and strife between kings and people to bring about 
the freedom we love; that it has only been through 
bitter struggles in which noble men fought and 
died that step by step the form 2 of the free self- 
government which we now enjoy has been built 
up; and that in both England and the United 
States there were great men who led the people 
to hold fast to the principles of freedom, justice, 
equality, and humanity. It is one of the great facts 
of history that the Anglo-Saxon forms of govern¬ 
ment are, of all the known forms in use by the 
nations of the earth, the best for establishing jus¬ 
tice, for insuring domestic tranquillity, for provid¬ 
ing for the common defense, and for securing the 
blessings of liberty to their peoples. 

1 Chiefly those who live in America and England. 

3 This form is the three-part form of government of executive, legis¬ 
lative, and judicial. 


286 


GOVERNMENT AND PATRIOTISM 287 


Anglo-Saxon Governments Endure .—And an¬ 
other fact of great importance is that the Anglo- 
Saxon forms of government have stood the test of 
time better than have any other forms. While 
government after government of Western Europe 
has been destroyed by war and revolution, the 
Anglo-Saxon forms in England and America have 
come through each terrible test stronger and more 
secure than before the trial of war and rebellion. 
The fine testimony to this permanence of our 
republican form of government is that civilized 
nation after nation has, in seeking to better con¬ 
ditions, adopted some form of the Anglo-Saxon 
governments. Whether in Western Europe or in 
South America, every people that has hoped to 
advance along the path to liberty and self-govern¬ 
ment has taken over some portion of the model 
built up so carefully by our Anglo-Saxon ancestors. 
Therefore we may well feel certain that in the 
constitution which the fathers of our country 
ordained and established are the foundations of 
the final free forms of a government that does 
“form a more perfect Union, establish justice,, 
insure domestic tranquillity, provide for the com¬ 
mon defense, promote general welfare, and secure 
the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our pos¬ 
terity.’ ’ 

What America Inherited from England.— Forms of 
Government .—The English colonists brought to 


288 


ILLINOIS 


America some priceless rights as well as the gov¬ 
ernmental forms that their ancestors had slowly 
and patiently established. The chief forms are, of 
course, the three great parts of the national and 
state governments, as they are to-day. Particu¬ 
larly important is the division of the law-making 
body into two divisions. It took centuries of 
struggle in the defense of liberties and rights to 
set up this legislative machinery which we now 
find in every state and in the national constitu¬ 
tion. Another form is the constitution itself. First 
it was only a paper which told of things the king 
of England had done with the promise that he 
would not do them again. In 1100 Henry I of 
England signed the earliest of such papers, the 
First Charter. In colonial times every English 
colony had its own charter. To-day each state has 
its own constitution, a paper issued by the consent 
of the governed, showing in what way they con¬ 
sent to be governed. 

Bights in Government .—In addition to these 
sacred forms, our English forefathers brought 
over many rights, of which the following four are 
chief: the right to choose representatives to make 
laws (instead of the king making the laws) ; the 
right of these representatives to tax the people (in 
place of the king levying taxes) ; the right of stat¬ 
ing that the taxes voted shall go only for the object 
stated (thus preventing those in charge of the 


GOVERNMENT AND PATRIOTISM 289 


money from spending it as they chose rather than 
as the representatives voted); and the right of 
impeachment, whereby one not fit may be removed 
from office before his term expires. These forms 
and these rights we inherited from England. 

The Origins of the Freedom of the English Colonies. 
—The English colonists in America enjoyed greater 
freedom than the settlers from any other great 
European country. There were three good reasons 
for this advantage. In the first place, the English 
colonists inherited from the parent state govern¬ 
mental machinery that gave them, in the progress 
toward the democratic forms which we now enjoy, 
a lead that far outstripped the position held by 
the colonies of any other great European state. 
The French, or the Dutch, or the Spanish colonies 
had no such freedom in action and no such per¬ 
sonal part in carrying on their little colonial gov¬ 
ernments as the English colonists enjoyed. The 
settlers in French colonies or Spanish colonies 
could not go to town meetings to vote on matters 
that they were interested in; the English colonists 
could. The French or Spanish colonists could not 
choose judges and governors of their settlements; 
the English could. The other colonists could not 
vote taxes for local matters; the English could. 
In short, the English brought over from old Eng¬ 
land forms of government ready .made, such as 
they were used to, that could not be carried over 


290 


ILLINOIS 


from any other European mother country, because 
such democratic forms did not exist in the other 
parent countries. In the second place, England 
for a century or more had been sending to her 
colonies every one who disagreed with the strict¬ 
ness of the English government, or with the nar¬ 
rowness of the English Church; and so in the end 
all who were opposed to any change in government 
or religion were in England, and all who were dis¬ 
senters, whether in politics or in religion, were in 
the colonies. In brief, in the colonies were found 
the free-spirited people; in the mother country 
were found the slow and safe-thinking people. In 
the third place, England did not keep as tight a 
rein on her colonists as did the other European 
countries that had American possessions. The 
English colonial governors ruled almost as they 
pleased; the French and Spanish had exact orders 
from their own kings. The English colonial gover¬ 
nors frequently disobeyed orders from the mother 
country; the French and Spanish governors obeyed 
to the letter. 

What Led to Our Declaration of Independence.— 

The French and Indian War decided the fate of 
America. The continent was to be English. But 
the English government at the close of this war 
suddenly changed its policy from one that let the 
colonies have a free rein to one of closer super¬ 
vision, and this led to acts of the greatest impor- 


GOVERNMENT AND PATRIOTISM 291 

tance. The colonies no longer were to be let alone; 
England was to be an empire, and the colonies 
must help support it. This change came as a shock 
to the colonists. They felt that the rights they had 
inherited were sacred, and these rights and liber¬ 
ties they were determined to keep. Furthermore, 
there was in America that spirit of freedom, of 
impatience with restraint, which comes to the free 
life on a frontier. This free spirit carried the 
colonists forward to new ideals of government far 
faster than the people in England were moving. 
The separation was coming. The acts of the Eng¬ 
lish ministry hastened the movement. The Stamp 
Act was fought on the ground that it was taxation 
without representation, that those who were taxed 
had no part in making the law. Then came the 
Townshend Acts, the sending of troops to Boston, 
the Boston Massacre, the Boston Tea Party, the 
Intolerable Acts, the meetings of Continental Con¬ 
gress, Lexington, Concord, and Bunker Hill. The 
Declaration of Independence told the world where 
the American colonists stood. 

The Declaration of Independence.—This document 
is talked about a great deal, but it is seldom read. 
Continental Congress elected a committee to draw 
up this paper. Thomas Jefferson, who had the 
most votes in the election of the committee, was 
made chairman, and on vote of the committee was 
appointed with John Adams to write the Declara- 


292 ILLINOIS 

tion. It was written in large part by Jefferson. 
There are a few great phrases in the Declaration. 
“A decent respect to the opinions of mankind re¬ 
quires that they (the thirteen United States) 
should declare the causes which impel them to 

the separation” is one 
that John Adams called 
“the noblest utterance 
of the whole composi¬ 
tion. ” “We hold these 
truths to be self-evi¬ 
dent, that all men are 
created equal, that they 
are endowed by their 
Creator with certain 
unalienable Rights, 
that among these are 
Life, Liberty, and the 
pursuit of Happiness” 
is the part of the paper 
that is quoted most often and about which there has 
been most discussion, particularly as to the mean¬ 
ing of “all men are created equal.” Lincoln main¬ 
tained that because of our belief that “all are cre¬ 
ated equal,” all should be free, and that some 
should not be slaves. 

Congress considered the draft of this great 
paper on the second, third, and fourth days of 
July, 1776. An occurrence of very small moment 



Chicago Historical Society 


Thomas Jefferson, 1743-1826 

The author of the Declaration of 
Independence and the third Presi¬ 
dent (1801-1809) of the United 
States. 



GOVEENMENT AND PATRIOTISM 293 

made them hurry through it. It was very warm, 
and swarms of flies from a livery stable near by 
were so annoying to the silk-stockinged legs of 
the members that they hastened to approve the 
document and sign it. Two other incidents are 
often connected with this paper. John Adams re¬ 
lates “that when John Hancock had affixed his 
magnificent signature to the paper, he said, 1 There, 
John Bull may read my name without spectacles V 
Tradition, also, will never relinquish the pleasure 
of repeating that, when Mr. Hancock reminded 
members of the necessity of hanging together, 
Dr. Franklin was ready with his ‘Yes, we must 
indeed all hang together, or else, most assuredly, 
we shall all hang separately.’ ” 

The Articles of Confederation.—As soon as the 
Declaration of Independence was declared, it was 
necessary for the (thirteen) United States to band 
together against the mother country, and thus the 
Articles of Confederation were drawn. As long as 
there was war, the thirteen states clung together, 
although almost five years passed (1781) before 
all the states agreed to the Articles, and it was 
then done only after the seven states that claimed 
western territories had given up their land claims 
in the West. It was at this time that Virginia, 
Massachusetts, and Connecticut gave up their 
claims to Illinois lands. As soon as the Revolu¬ 
tionary War was over, it was soon found that the 


294 


ILLINOIS 



Chicago Historical Society 


Alexander Hamilton, 1757-1804 

Hamilton was a member of the 
convention that framed the Consti¬ 
tution. He was in favor of a strong 
central government and therefore 
was not as popular in 1787 as he 
would be to-day. As first Secre¬ 
tary of the Treasury he carried 
through his plan of the United 
States paying all Revolutionary War 
debts both of the states and of the 
nation, thus giving the central gov¬ 
ernment firm credit. He planned 
the first Bank of the United States. 

He was a leader in the Federalist 
party. 

gress urged fair treatment, 
tariff rates on imports, son 
had one kind of money, s 


Articles were too weak 
to bind the thirteen 
states into a nation. 
The central govern¬ 
ment under the Articles 
could make treaties 
with other nations, but 
could not enforce them. 
The United States 
could borrow money, 
but could not collect 
money to pay the in¬ 
terest or to pay back 
the principal. Congress 
could advise the states 
to do this, or could ask 
the states to do that, 
but lacked power to en¬ 
force the advice and to 
make matters uniform. 
The states treated the 
Loyalists 1 so harshly 
that one hundred thou¬ 
sand of them left the 
country, although Con- 
Some states had high 
le had low; some states 
some had another, and 


1 The Loyalists were loyal to the king of England. 





GOVERNMENT AND PATRIOTISM 295 

nobody would take any of it. Money was so worth¬ 
less that it took a cartload of it .to buy a cartload of 
goods. The central government under the Articles 
was respected by few, for the separate states did 
not obey the resolutions of Congress; foreign na¬ 
tions ignored it, and even the people did not stand 
in awe of it. In every field that Congress entered, 
failure was the result, except one. In drawing the 
Ordinance of 1787, the paper which gave govern¬ 
ment to the present North Central States, Congress 
treated that vast expanse of territory with great 
wisdom. Under this form of government this ter¬ 
ritory was settled and states were set up which were 
loyal to the central government. This was the one 
success of Congress under the Articles. But aside 
from this one achievement there was confusion 
among the states and general disrespect for the 
central government; the answer to all this confu¬ 
sion and weakness was that a strong central gov¬ 
ernment was necessary. 

The Forming of the Constitution.—The demands 
of trade really brought about the making of our 
present Constitution. Two states, Virginia and 
Maryland, had conflicting interests on the Poto¬ 
mac. Delegates from these two states met at 
Mt. Vernon and made a successful agreement, but 
they then saw that all the states would be bene¬ 
fited by a commercial agreement. Virginia, the 
most powerful state, invited all the states to send 


296 


ILLINOIS 


delegates for such a conference at Annapolis. Five 
states sent representatives. These issued a call for 
a convention to meet in Philadelphia in 1787 “to 

render the Constitution 
of the Federal govern¬ 
ment adequate’’ to the 
demands made upon it. 
To this call fifty-five 
delegates (from every 
state except Rhode 
Island) responded, and 
the most important 
convention in our his¬ 
tory came together. 
The great men of our 
country were there: 
Washington, Franklin, 
Hamilton, and Madi¬ 
son. Here the gov¬ 
ernment with the three 
departments — execu¬ 
tive, legislative, and 
judicial—was drafted. 
By the “great compro¬ 
mise” of this convention the legislative department 
was formed of two branches: one in which all states 
have equal representation, and one in which the 
people are equally represented. The Supreme 
Court erected by this convention has proved to he 



Chicago Historical Society 


Benjamin Franklin, 1706-1790 

A member of the convention that 
framed the Constitution of the 
United States. Franklin like Ham¬ 
ilton favored a strong central gov¬ 
ernment. But neither of these men 
had much influence in that conven¬ 
tion, for Franklin was a very old 
man and Hamilton was very radical 
and aristocratic. 





GOVERNMENT AND PATRIOTISM 297 

another of the great creations of this great conven¬ 
tion. In 1789 the government of the United States 
under the Constitution went into effect. The states 
as they have one by one joined the Union have fol¬ 
lowed very closely the form of government drawn 
by the Constitutional Convention of 1787. 

QUESTIONS 

1. For what does our flag stand? 

2. What two nations have developed these principles? 

3. What has been the attitude of other governments toward the 

Anglo-Saxon form? 

4. What four forms have Americans brought over from England? 

5. Trace the history of a state constitution. 

6. What rights did Americans bring from England? 

7. What three facts led to English colonists being freer than other 

colonists in America? 

8. What led to the Declaration of Independence? 

9. Trace the steps by which the Declaration came into being. 

10. Why were the Articles of Confederation drawn up? 

11. Why did the Articles fail? 

12. What one piece of good work did Continental Congress do that 

affected Illinois history? 

13. What led to the writing of our present Constitution of the United 

States? 

14. Trace the history of the writing of this document. 


i 



298 

# 



























CHAPTER XXI 
GOVERNMENT IN ILLINOIS 
HISTORY 

ihe History of Government in Illinois. —Govern¬ 
ment in Illinois has seen changes and has expe¬ 
rienced growth. It has endured while three nations 
ruled over its lands, and it has expanded from a 
very simple form to a very complex one. 

The Government Before the Revolution .—At 
first, under the rule of France there.was sent to 
the Illinois country a governor, called major com¬ 
mandant. He was chief in every way, except in 
religion; he was more of a feudal lord who looked 
after his serfs than a governor who ruled over a 
district. At first (until 1717) he reported to Que¬ 
bec. After that date Illinois was a part of the 
French territory of Louisiana, and the command¬ 
ants came from New Orleans. When Illinois fell 
under British control (1765), little change came, 
and the British rule was hardly felt before Illinois 
was made a part of Virginia by the conquest of 
George Rogers Clark. 

The Capitol Building at Springfield (Opposite Page) 

This building was finished in 1888 at a cost of four and one half 
million dollars. It was first used in 1876. Large as it is, it cannot 
now house all the administrative offices of this great state. The Cen¬ 
tennial Memorial Building gives room for many departments and the 
Supreme Court Building has others. In the foreground can be seen the 
statue, Lincoln of the Farewell Address , which represents Lincoln as he 
left Springfield in 1861 to become President. 

299 



300 ILLINOIS 

The Ordinance of 1787 —Virginia established 
the southern form of government, making the 
Old Northwest a county, and a huge one it was. 
After Virginia ceded her rights in the Old North¬ 
west to the United States (1784), Congress was 
slow in establishing a government, but three years 
later the famous Ordinance of 1787 was passed. 
The government set up by this important law had 
at first only a governor, a secretary, and three 
judges. As soon as there were five thousand free 
male inhabitants in the territory, a general assem¬ 
bly was to be added. The governor was appointed 
by Congress, and, as in the earliest days, was com¬ 
mander-in-chief. He appointed the inferior offi¬ 
cers. Congress appointed a secretary, who was to 
keep the records and report twice a year to that 
body. Congress also appointed the three judges. 
The general assembly had two houses: the council 
and the house of representatives. The house had 
one member for every five hundred free male in¬ 
habitants (notice that women had no recognition). 
To be elected to the house of representatives a 
man must own two hundred acres of land and 
either have lived in his district three years, or in 
one of the states three years and be a resident of 
his district. To be able to vote for a representa¬ 
tive, a man must own fifty acres of land and have 
lived two years in the district or be a citizen of 
one of the states and a resident of the district. 


GOVERNMENT—HISTORY 301 

The council consisted of five men who must own 
five hundred acres of land and be elected by Con¬ 
gress from a list of ten such men selected by the 
territorial house of representatives. The repre¬ 
sentatives held office for two years (a rule that is 
in force to-day) ; the councilors continued in office 
for five years. 

The Ordinance guaranteed many sacred rights 
to the inhabitants of the Old Northwest: religious 
freedom, trial by jury, habeas corpus, 1 and repre¬ 
sentation ; these were among those expressly 
named. The following from the Ordinance is often 
quoted: “Religion, morality, and knowledge being 
necessary to good government and the happiness 
of mankind, schools, and the means of education 
shall forever be encouraged.’’ In this instrument 
there was a sentence which gave trouble enough 
to Illinois, for it read, “ There shall be neither 
slavery nor involuntary servitude in the said ter¬ 
ritory.” 

The Northwest Territory .—President Washing¬ 
ton nominated and Congress appointed Arthur 
St. Clair first governor of the Northwest Terri¬ 
tory; and the government was established at 
Marietta, Ohio, in 1788. The governor, secretary, 
and three judges ruled until 1798 when the terri¬ 
tory had over five thousand free male inhabitants. 
Then twenty-two members of the house of repre- 

*See footnote on page 64. 


302 ILLINOIS 

sentatives were elected and sat at Cincinnati. Two 
of these representatives came from Illinois. At 
that time the council of five was elected and a 
delegate to Congress, chosen by the house and 
council acting as one body, was elected. 

The Indiana Territory .—But the people of Illi¬ 
nois were a long way from Marietta and Cincin¬ 
nati, and justly complained that the government 
was too far away to give them the proper benefits 
of it. 1 For example, the judges on their circuits 
came to Illinois only once in five years; hence 
criminals escaped trial and disputes had little 
chance of settlement. Congress was petitioned to 
set up a territory west of Ohio. In 1800 the Indi¬ 
ana Territory was established, with its capital at 
Vincennes. This included the present states of 
Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, Wisconsin, and a part 
of Minnesota. William Henry Harrison was ap¬ 
pointed governor. The territory had the original 
form of government of the Northwest Territory: 
governor, secretary, and three judges, but no legis¬ 
lature. In 1804 the legislature was added, and 
Illinois was allotted three representatives. 

The Illinois Territory .—In 1802 2 Congress set 
apart the territory between the Wabash and Mis¬ 
sissippi rivers northward to the Canadian line as 
the territory of Illinois. Ninian Edwards was 


1 See page 65. 
a See page 70. 


GOVERNMENT—HISTORY 


303 


appointed governor, and Kaskaskia was the capi¬ 
tal. Again the government went back to the form 
laid down by the Ordinance of 1787 of governor, 
secretary, and three judges. The governor could 
appoint county and township officials. 

In 1812 1 a very important change in the law 
affecting the suffrage was made. Up to this time 
only free males who owned fifty acres of land had 
the right to vote; hut in Illinois almost all were 
squatters and had no clear title to land, and there¬ 
fore almost no one could vote. Congress solved 
the problem by allowing all to vote who had lived 
in the territory a year and paid taxes. Illinois 
thus became the most democratic of all the terri¬ 
tories of the United States. In this year a legis¬ 
lature of seven members was elected, and a coun¬ 
cil of five was chosen. This form of government 
continued until Illinois was admitted to the Union 
(1818). 

The State Government .—The Constitution of 1818. 
—The government of the state outlined in the con¬ 
stitution of 1818 2 was somewhat different from 
that of the territory. The governor was given 
less power than under the territorial form; but 
he was elected, not appointed. The rule of the 
royal governors of colonial times had been harsh 
and tyrannical, and the people of the states were 


*See page 70. 
*See page 77. 


304 


ILLINOIS 


careful not to give the governors much power. 
The people of a century ago feared an elected 
governor almost as much as they had hated a royal 
governor. The power of the governor was reduced 



Centennial Memorial Building, Springfield 


This building was erected as a monument to the century of state¬ 
hood of Illinois. It is used to house departments which were in crowded 
quarters in the state house. The cornerstone was laid October 5, 1918, 
the century anniversary of the first meeting of the legislature of the 
state. This was also the fiftieth anniversary of the laying of the corner¬ 
stone of the present state capitol building. The cost of the Memorial 
Building is about two million dollars. 


by giving more power to the assembly and by plac¬ 
ing the veto power in a council composed of the 
four supreme court judges and the governor. The 
judges, as well as state auditor, attorney general, 













GOVERNMENT—HISTORY 


305 


and other high state officers, were appointed by 
the assembly. The feature of the constitution of 
1818 most debated was that regarding slavery. 
Here the framers of our first constitution did their 
best to compromise, for they not only wished to 
protect the slaveholders already in the state, but 
they also hoped to continue the presence of inden¬ 
tured Negroes, and they wanted to be admitted to 
the Union, although the Ordinance of 1787 dis¬ 
tinctly forbade slavery. The power to amend the 
constitution was limited to one method of four 
steps: first, a two-thirds vote of the assembly 
favoring a convention; second, a majority vote of 
the people for a convention; third, the election of 
members of the convention; fourth, the drafting 
of the amendments by the convention. This long 
method made it very difficult to change the con¬ 
stitution. 

The Attempt to Change the Constitution (1824). 
—Under the constitution, of 1818 Illinois was 
looked upon as a free state, but the proslavery 
party planned to make it a slave state. A vote of 
two thirds in the assembly in 1823 called for the 
election of a convention to change the constitution. 
The chief object of this change was to allow slavery 
in Illinois. After the most vigorously contested 
election 1 (1824) the state has ever seen, the con- 

1 See pages 111-113. 


306 ILLINOIS 

vention was voted down and the proslavery party 
gave up the fight. 

The Constitution of 1848. —By 1846 Illinois had 
grown from a frontier state of some 40,000 people 
to a vigorous commonwealth of 840,000. It was 
felt that changes in the constitution were needed. 
A convention was elected and a new constitution 
was written. This corrected abuses that had grown 
up in the previous thirty years. The council of 
revision was abolished and the veto power was 
given to the governor. But, as in the constitution 
of 1818, a majority vote of both houses could over¬ 
ride the veto. The assembly, under the constitu¬ 
tion of 1818, had almost unlimited power. Many 
restrictions were placed upon the assembly by the 
constitution of 1848; for example, it could not 
charter a state bank; it could not contract debts 
in excess of $50,000, and it could not pass private 
bills. The constitution of 1848 changed the tenure 
of supreme court judges from life to nine years, 
as it is to-day. It restricted the right of suffrage 
from inhabitants with a residence in the state of 
six months to citizens with a residence of one year; 
in other words, aliens must be naturalized and 
citizens of the United States could vote after a 
year’s residence in the state. Voting by ballot 
took the place of viva voce 1 voting. Township 
organization also was permitted, for the majority 

1(< Viva voce’* (vi'va vo se), means oral. 


GOVERNMENT—HISTORY 307 

of the settlers in 1848 were from the northern 
states where they had been accustomed to local 
township rule. Free Negroes were refused admit¬ 
tance to the state. A new method of amending the 
constitution was added to the method of 1818: a 
proposal would become a part of the constitution 
after having passed one assembly by a vote of two 
thirds of all members, and the succeeding assembly 
by a majority vote; then it must receive approval 
by a majority of the voters at an election. 

The Constitution of 1870— The continued rapid 
growth of Illinois called for changes in the con¬ 
stitution of 1848, for the state had three times as 
many people in 1870 as it had had in 1848. The 
plan of minority representation for the lower 
house was placed in the constitution of 1870. By 
this, “each qualified voter may cast as many votes 
for one candidate as there are representatives to 
be elected, or may distribute the same, or equal 
parts thereof, among the candidates.” 1 Regula- 

1 Imagine a senatorial district which has one hundred votes; twenty-six 
are democratic, and seventy-four are republican. Suppose there are two 
republican candidates and one democratic candidate for the three seats 
in the lower house that belong to each senatorial district. If the 
democrats concentrate all their votes (for according to the Constitution, 
“each qualified voter may cast as many votes for one candidate as 
there are representatives to be elected ,, ) on their one candidate, the 
democratic candidate will receive seventy-eight votes. If the republi¬ 
cans distribute their votes (the Constitution says “or may distribute 
the same or equal parts thereof, among the candidate”) equally, the 
two republican candidates will receive each 111 votes (seventy-four by 
one and one half, for each republican voter can vote one and one half 
votes for each candidate), and thus one democrat may be elected, 
although the democrats have only twenty-six of the one hundred votes 
in the district. 


308 


ILLINOIS 


tion of railroad rates was given to the legislature. 
The judicial branch of the government was re¬ 
organized in order to grant more speedy justice. 
The public school fund was kept separate from 
“any church or sectarian purpose.’’ A sharp 
check on the power of the legislature was inserted, 
for in our present constitution a two-thirds vote 
is necessary to override the governor’s veto. The 
Negro was no longer refused residence and was 
given the ballot. Two methods for amending our 
present constitution are open: First, on a two- 
thirds vote of the assembly the question of a con¬ 
stitutional convention shall be submitted to the 
voters. If a majority favor the question, a con¬ 
vention is called, a constitution drawn, and sub¬ 
mitted to the voters. Second, amendments carried 
through the assembly by a two-thirds vote and 
ratified by a majority vote of the people can be 
incorporated; “but the General Assembly shall 
have no power to propose amendments to more 
than one article of this Constitution at the same 
session nor to the same article oftener than once 
in four years.” 

The Proposed Constitution Voted Down ( 1922 ). 
—The chief defect of the constitution of 1870 is 
the fault present in the other constitutions—the 
difficult process of amendment. There are other 
changes needed in our present constitution; the 
chief of these are: a reorganization of our judicial 


GOVERNMENT—HISTORY 309 

system, a new taxing system, and a simpler plan 
(short ballot) for voting. These four outstanding 
shortcomings made all believe that a new consti¬ 
tution would be beneficial. But great as was the 
need, the proposed constitution was decisively 
voted down, 700,000 to 400,000, in 1922. The flat 
rejection of this constitution was brought about 
by the fear of increased taxes, by the limits placed 
on representation from Cook County, and by re¬ 
quiring one to vote the entire instrument up or 
down. There were several features that might 
have been supported if there had been a separate 
vote on them. 

The Future.— Changes in our basic law are needed 
to-day as much as ever. It was the hope of public- 
spirited men that the “ gateway amendment/* 
voted on in November, 1924, would carry. But it 
failed, 1 and we are more in need of a revised state 
constitution than we were a few years ago. 

QUESTIONS 

1. To one of what two capitals did the French governors report! 

2. Describe the government under which Illinois lived which was estab¬ 

lished by the Ordinance of 1787. 

3. Compare its parts with corresponding ones of to-day. 

4. What rights did it secure to the inhabitants of Illinois! 

5. Commit to memory what the Ordinance says about schools. 

1 The 11 gateway amendment, ” voted on November 4, 1924, received 
704,665 votes. While less voted against it, the proposed amendment 
did not carry because there were 2,579,861 votes cast for members of 
the General Assembly at that election; therefore 1,289,931 votes were 
necessary to carry the amendment. 


310 ILLINOIS 

6. When did Illinois have a part in the government of the Northwest 

Territory ? 

7. Why was Indiana Territory set up? 

8. When was Illinois Territory established? Who was governor? 

9. What important happenings occurred in 1812 and in 1818? 

10. Why were the early state governors given so little power? 

11. Name the four steps necessary to amend the first constitution. 

12. Why was an attempt made to change the constitution of Illinois 

in 1824? 

13. Compare the constitution of 1848 with that of 1818. 

14. What changes came with the Constitution of 1870? 

15. How may the Constitution of 1870 be amended? 

16. What four needs were to be remedied by the proposed Constitution 

of 1922? 

17. What is the “gateway amendment”? 

EXEECISES 

1. Draw a time chart nine inches long (scale twenty-five years equal one 

inch) and three inches wide. Put in the cross lines 1700, 1750, 
1800, 1850, 1900, and 1925. In the proper places locate the time 
the French major-commandant ruled Illinois, the time the British 
ruled, the Ordinance of 1787, the time of Illinois Territory, the 
Admission of Illinois, the times of the two later constitutions and 
the time of the proposed constitution. Invent a name for this 
chart. 

2. Show how a senatorial district of one hundred votes, of which 

twenty-six are republican and seventy-four are democratic can 
elect two republicans and only one democrat to the lower house, 
if two democrats and four republicans run. 


CHAPTER XXII 


GOVERNMENT IN ILLINOIS 
ORGANIZATION 

The Governments in Illinois.— If a citizen of Illi¬ 
nois should say to himself, “I am a free person/’ 
he must remember that, in spite of the fact that 
he lives in “free America,” he has to submit to 
many governments. There is first the national or 
federal government, with its seat at Washington; 
then the state government, with its capital at 
Springfield; under these are the county, the town, 
or city, or village; the township; the forest pre¬ 
serve ; the sanitary and drainage; the road district; 
the school districts; the park district; the library 
district; and the public-health district—all of these 
are governments which limit the free action of the 
people of Illinois. A citizen is quite likely to find 
that he has ten governments over him, and these 
in one way or another set bounds to his freedom. 
The truth is, Illinois has too many governments; 
there are too many separate bodies of control. 
Fewer, with the same work in hand, would do it 
better. 

Illinois and the Federal Government.— Illinois is 
one of the states which are joined together in a 
union to form the federal nation known as the 
United States of America. In forming this union 
certain powers were given to the federal govern- 
311 



312 ILLINOIS 

ment and others were given to the states. Some 
powers belong to neither government; e.g., Illinois 
cannot tax the United States, nor can the United 
States tax the state of Illinois. Illinois has far 
more power over her citizens than has the federal 


The Armory, University of Illinois, Urbana 

The armory has a drill room two hundred by four hundred feet, enough 
space to permit a battalion to drill. (Kindness of H. C. Hollister.) 

government, yet Illinois has given np very impor¬ 
tant powers to our central government. If dis¬ 
putes arise as to which government has power, the 
Supreme Court of the United States decides. 

The Governments Compared .—The government 
of Illinois is very like that of the nation. The 
three parts are present in both. The governor cor- 



GOVERNMENT—ORGANIZATION 313 


responds to the president; the lieutenant governor 
to the vice-president; the governor, as well as the 
president, appoints his cabinet 1 ; the Illinois gen¬ 
eral assembly, like Congress, is composed of two 
chambers, the house and the senate; and both gov¬ 
ernments have supreme courts. However, in many 
ways the governments are unlike. In the executive 
department of Illinois the secretary of state, audi¬ 
tor of public accounts, treasurer, and superintend¬ 
ent of public instruction are elected by the people, 
while corresponding officers of our central govern¬ 
ment are appointed by the president. The gover¬ 
nor has less executive power than has the presi¬ 
dent. The judges of the supreme court of Illinois 
are elected by the people for a term of nine years, 
while justices of the Supreme Court of the United 
States are appointed by the president (by and 
with the advice and consent of the Senate) and 
hold office for life. 

The Future of the Two Governments .—When 
the Constitution of the United States was adopted, 
the national government was, in comparison with 
state governments, rather weak; but change after 
change has come, so that to-day the central gov¬ 
ernment is far the stronger. The most important 
changes that have built up the central power are: 
the admission of states into the Union (one of 

1 The cabinet consists of nine departments: finance, agriculture, labor, 
mines and minerals, public works and buildings, public welfare, public 
health, trade and commerce, and registration and education. 



Congressional Apportionment 

314 


























































GOVERNMENT—ORGANIZATION 315 

forty-eight is less than one of thirteen); some de¬ 
cisions of the Supreme Court of the United States 
( e.g v the Supreme Court can declare a state law 
void); and some amendments to the Constitution, 
notably the Fifteenth and the Nineteenth, have 
taken control from the states and placed it in the 
federal government. The growth of the national 
power seems likely to continue—for grants in aid 
for the building of roads; for the support of 
schools; provisions for child welfare; and regula¬ 
tions for the inspection of foods, of plants, and of 
animals no doubt will be further extended. With 
every such grant and extension comes loss of state 
control. 

What the Governments Do For You.— The different 
governments over you are unceasingly busy, day 
and night. Almost at your elbow every minute 
there are governments which care for you. The 
peace of the country is preserved by the federal 
government; order and quiet is maintained by the 
state and the county, or the town or village or city 
governments; if you call a physician, the state sees 
that he is prepared for this service; if he pre¬ 
scribes a drug, the federal government has passed 
on its purity; if you eat meat, the federal inspec¬ 
tion permits its sale; if you go to work, the state 
inspects the conditions under which you labor; if 
you go to school, the school board provides instruc¬ 
tion ; if you own property, the local police protect 


316 ILLINOIS 

it. Only as new conditions arise ( e.g the radio) 
do we find, for a short time, no laws governing 
them. 

What the Federal Government Does For You.—The 

federal government busies itself with such general 
conditions as peace and war, commerce, justice, 
and important rights such as freedom of speech 
and of the press. Congress alone has the power 
“to declare war” and “raise armies” and “main¬ 
tain a navy.” Through these the federal govern¬ 
ment protects you. Congress regulates our foreign 
commerce chiefly through treaties and laws and 
regulations based on them. It supervises com¬ 
merce within the nation through the Interstate 
Commerce Commission. It provides for the coin¬ 
age of money and regulates weights and measures 
so that we can carry on trade. By these means 
the federal government makes commerce possible. 
Congress has a large department at each of the 
meat-packing centers of the state to inspect the 
meats offered for sale. It determines the amount 
of your federal income tax. It makes you pay the 
war tax when you attend a “movie.” Thus the 
federal government keeps its machinery of pro¬ 
tection and service running. The central govern¬ 
ment gives aid through the state to our roads and 
to our schools. The Constitution allows you “the 
free exercise” of your religion. It grants you 
“freedom of speech,” “to be secure in” your per- 


GOVERNMENT—ORGANIZATION 317 

son, home, “papers, and effects, against unreason¬ 
able searches and seizures.” You cannot he ar¬ 
rested and confined to jail on suspicion, for “the 
writ of habeas corpus 1 shall not be suspended” 
(except in time “of rebellion or invasion”). The 
right of trial by jury “where the value of the con¬ 
troversy shall exceed twenty dollars” is yours by 
the Constitution. The federal government estab¬ 
lishes post offices and post roads. The central gov¬ 
ernment has set up Circuit Courts of Appeal. 
Illinois is in the Seventh Judicial Circuit of the 
United States, which is composed of Illinois, Indi¬ 
ana, and Wisconsin. There are also national judi¬ 
cial district judges sitting in our state. Three of 
these districts are in Illinois. The national govern¬ 
ment grants aid to vocational schools and to voca¬ 
tional courses in high schools; it also gives aid for 
the welfare of mothers and infants. Thus in these 
and many other ways the national government is 
in close contact with you and protects you. 

What You Should Do For the Federal Govern¬ 
ment.—The benefits and privileges which the fed¬ 
eral government grants you demand that you give 
something in return. Just as the federal govern¬ 
ment sleeplessly guards you and protects you, so 
you should always be loyal and true to the guard¬ 
ian of your peace and quiet. You should obey the 
laws; you should inform yourself on all public 

1 See footnote on page 64. 


318 ILLINOIS 

questions, and when the time comes you should 
vote; you should pay your taxes; you should study 
the Constitution of the United States, so that you 
know what American principles are; you should 
try to make your government bring the greatest 
good to the greatest number; and, if need he, you 
should give your life to defend your government. 

What the State Government Does.—The state gov¬ 
ernment as well as the federal government gives 
you important rights and privileges. The federal 
Constitution gave you the right of trial by jury 
(of twelve); the state constitution gives you the 
right of trial by less than twelve persons. In case 
of riots or cases of grave danger the attorney gen¬ 
eral may be able to interfere to protect you. The 
state protects you against criminals who commit 
murder, arson, larceny, and many other crimes. 
The state provides courts where you will be justly 
treated in disputes. The state builds good roads. 
The state gives some aid to grammar schools and 
to vocational and to continuation schools. The 
state insists on certain requirements before doctors 
and lawyers may practice; it safeguards employed 
children and women; it requires safety devices 
and sanitation in factories and in mines; it inter¬ 
feres for your safety in the running of automo¬ 
biles ; it prevents cities and towns and other local 
districts from going too deeply into debt; it pro¬ 
tects you from excessive taxes; and lays down 


GOVERNMENT—ORGANIZATION 319 


policies in many other ways. In fact, the state 
government gives forth many plans and policies 
that it expects the local units to carry out. 

What You Should Do For the State Govern¬ 
ment.—Again the rights and benefits secured to 
you by your state government require duties and 
support from you. You should, above all, learn all 
you can about the machinery of the state govern¬ 
ment. You should know who are in control of 
that machinery, and you should take an active 
part in placing the best men in that control. You 
should not only read but refer to and study our 
present state constitution; you should give an in¬ 
telligent interest to our laws, particularly to new 
laws and need for additional laws. If there is to 
be growth, if there is to be improvement, there 
must be change. The changes will appear in our 
laws. If you are familiar with our state laws, you 
will know what policies of control the state govern¬ 
ment requires, and if you are a true citizen, if you 
are a loyal citizen, you will support the laws and 
policies of the state. If you are personally opposed 
to any law or policy passed by the state govern¬ 
ment, you should still be a good sportsman, play 
the game according to the rules, and support the 
laws. You can honestly try to have the law changed, 
but you should not break the law simply because 
you do not like it or believe in it. Thereby you 
are not a good citizen and by breaking a law you 


320 


ILLINOIS 


are helping to destroy your government. If you 
find that there is no hope of changing the law to 
which you are opposed, you may move to another 
state. But always obey the laws . 

The Forms of Local Government.— The federal 
government and the state governments are some¬ 
times called the major areas of government. The 
county, township , 1 city, village, and other forms 
are called the minor areas of government. The 
history of the origin and formation of the major 
areas is simple and well known, but the origin of 
the minor areas is more difficult to understand. 

The Township Form .—This minor area ap¬ 
peared first in New York and in Pennsylvania. 
During the early history of these colonies there 
were: first, the central colonial government; sec¬ 
ond, the government of towns, villages, and man¬ 
ors. These at first had direct contact with the 
colonial government. Later the wild, unsettled dis¬ 
tricts between began to be occupied, and it became 
necessary to establish government for these dis¬ 
tricts; thus the township was formed to exercise 
governmental control over the lands lying between 
the settlements. 

1 The township is a subdivision of the county that has a simple govern¬ 
ment, is rural, and thinly settled; the town is a smaller subdivision of 
the county that has a more complex government, is urban, and more 
thickly settled. A school township is a school area that usually includes 
several school districts, and is set up for the purpose of conducting a 
high school. A congressional township is an area six miles square, 
surveyed in accordance with the Act of 1785 of Continental Congress. 
This act applies to most of the lands of the Northwest Territory. 


GOVERNMENT—ORGANIZATION 321 

The County Form .—The county is distinctly a 
product of the South. Here a milder climate, large 
plantations, slavery, ease in making a living, and 
absence of danger from the Indians brought a 
widely scattered population, fewer neighborhood 
jealousies, and less need for a compact govern¬ 
ment. The great plantation with one man as mas¬ 
ter prevailed, and there an undemocratic form of 
government arose—the county. The county was 
the area that was represented in the legislature. 

Forms of County Government in Illinois.— The 
County Form.—The county form of government 
is found in seventeen counties of Illinois, and these 
counties are naturally in the southern half of the 
state. Over these counties is a board of three com¬ 
missioners, elected from the county at large for 
a term of three years (one each year) and com¬ 
missioned by the governor of the state. This hoard 
of county commissioners has a multitude of duties: 
it has supervision over all officers appointed by 
it, and over county institutions such as jails, court¬ 
houses, poorhouses, and hospitals; it must keep 
records of all warrants issued, of the cost of con¬ 
struction of highways and bridges, of the location 
of electric wires, pipe drains, parks, rail lines, 
schoolhouses, cemeteries, and other important 
places; it must decide what roads shall he opened, 
what bridges built, what machinery purchased, 



322 ILLINOIS 

and what supplies are needed; it must call for bids 
and let contracts for roads, bridges, and the rest; 
it must determine the county tax for the support 
of all these items; and it must call elections. The 
voters in these counties also elect the county judge, 


Chicago Historical Society 

The Old Courthouse at Cahokia 

The methods of the courts were far different in the early days in 
this courthouse from those in the palatial building of the Illinois 
Supreme Court of to-day. 

the clerk, the treasurer, the sheriff, the coroner, 
the surveyor, the (county) superintendent of 
schools, the state’s attorney, and the clerk of the 
circuit court. The county is divided into election 
precincts, each of which elects two justices of the 
peace and two constables; it is also divided into 
road districts, and each road district elects a high- 








GOVERNMENT—ORGANIZATION 


323 


way commissioner and a district clerk who is treas¬ 
urer of the road and bridge fund. 

The Township Form .—The township form of 
county government came to Illinois from the Mid¬ 
dle Atlantic States, and naturally is found exclu¬ 
sively in the northern part of the state. There are 
eighty-four counties with this type of government. 
Under this plan of government the county is 
divided into townships, each of which elects a 
supervisor for a term of two years. The super¬ 
visors form the county board. The size of the 
county board varies from five in Putnam County 
to fifty-three in La Salle County. As a rule, the 
larger counties have the township form of gov¬ 
ernment. The duties of the county board in coun¬ 
ties with the township plan are the same as those 
that have the pure county form. Since the coun¬ 
ties under this mode of government are larger and 
more populous, there are more officers to be chosen; 
for example, the township county has the nine 
officers to elect that the road district county has, 
but the township county has additional officers, 
namely, the recorder, the probate judge, the clerk 
of the probate court, and the county assessor. 
Besides these the voters of each township elect, 
in addition to the supervisor, the town clerk, town 
assessor, highway commissioner, two justices of 
the peace, and two constables. In large townships 
an assistant supervisor is elected (one for each 


ILLINOIS 


324 

additional twenty-five hundred people over four 
thousand), who is also a member of the county 
board. 

Cook County Form— About one half of the 
people of Illinois live in Cook County; therefore, 
a very much larger and a very much more complex 
form of government is necessary to care for all 
the problems that arise there. Like the other coun¬ 
ties of the state, it has a board of county commis¬ 
sioners, but, unlike the other counties, ten are 
elected from Chicago and five from the outside 
territory, or the country towns of Cook County. 
The president of this board has much more power 
than the chairman in other counties, and therefore 
he is elected to that office by the people; in other 
words, a voter must vote twice for him, once as 
member of the board, and once as president of the 
board. He has a veto power in money matters that 
can be overridden only by a four-fifths vote of the 
board. He has large appointive powers. He is 
governor, in fact, of the county. Besides the mem¬ 
bers of the county board and the elective officers 
mentioned under the other forms of county gov¬ 
ernment, the voters in Cook County elect the clerk 
of the criminal court, the clerk of the superior 
court, the board of assessors, and the board of re¬ 
view. On the other hand, there is no elective county 
auditor, and no justices of the peace, except out¬ 
side the city of Chicago. The Cook County board 


GOVERNMENT—ORGANIZATION 325 


has supervision over many institutions and many 
employees: the County Hospital cares for those 
ill of body; the Psycopathic Hospital for those 
suffering in mind; the County Agent cares for 
those who are so unfortunate as to be without 
food, clothing, and fuel; the Circuit, Superior, 
Criminal, County, and Probate courts give justice; 
the County Jail houses those held for punishment; 
the Coroner serves writs, the Juvenile and the 
Adult Probation departments watch over the first 
offenders; in addition, roads, taxes, and elections 
are taken care of by the Cook County board. The 
Forest Preserve District has control of over eight¬ 
een thousand acres of recreational districts in 
Cook County. The County board is also the Forest 
Preserve board and in this hoard, too, the presi¬ 
dent has unusual powers. But with all its duties 
this board serves only a small fraction of the 
people of Cook County, for the city of Chicago 
has a separate government of its own. 

City of Chicago.—The chief features of Chicago’s 
government are a mayor, who serves four years, 
and a council of fifty aldermen elected for two 
years from fifty wards. The mayor appoints the 
members of the hoards that manage the schools, 




the library, and a city sanitarium for those ill of 
tuberculosis. This huge system of city control 
employs over thirty-one thousand people and ex¬ 
pends annually over one hundred million dollars. 



ILLINOIS 


326 

Chicago differs from the other cities in that laws 
can be passed for the city of Chicago alone, but 
they must be approved by a majority of the voters 
of the city. Another peculiar feature is the power 
given to the mayor to place a city ordinance before 
the council for approval. As a rule only aldermen 
may bring up ordinances. 

Other Cities.— In the other cities of the state 
there are mayors and aldermen as in Chicago. The 
mayors are elected for a two-year term, however, 
and there are large and small councils, depending 
on the size of the city. 

There are over fifty cities in the state that are 
in another class, for they are ruled by a major 
and four commissioners elected by the voters for 
a term of four years. This is called the commis¬ 
sion form of government, for this commission of 
five have all the powers of a city government that 
has a board of aldermen. 

Villages.— The village form is made up of an 
area of two square miles or less. This form of 
government has a president and six trustees elected 
by the people. 

Manager Form.— A city or village may choose 
the managerial type of government with a small 
council elected from the city at large. This coun¬ 
cil employs a manager who runs the city govern¬ 
ment and holds office at the pleasure of the council 


GOVERNMENT—ORGANIZATION 327 

which is responsible for the conduct of affairs, and 
in turn holds the manager responsible. 

The Land Survey.— If a person owned forty acres 
of land in McLean County, its legal description 
might be: the S.E. quarter of the N.E. quarter 
of Section 22, Township 25 North, Range 2 East 
of the Third Principal Meridian. This locates 
the land very accurately. The Act of Continental 
Congress of 1785 brought this about, for the first 
principal meridian was set as the boundary line 
between Ohio and Indiana, the second principal 
meridian was located west of the center of Indi¬ 
ana, the third was placed in the center of Illinois, 
and the fourth in western Illinois. The base line 
runs east and west along a parallel of latitude. 
(See map of Illinois in your geography.) The 
townships (called congressional townships) lie in 
rows north and south of the base line which runs 
east and west near Mount Vernon. The ranges are 
the rows of townships east and west of the prin¬ 
cipal meridians. Thus Springfield is in Range 5 
West of the Third Principal Meridian; Blooming¬ 
ton is in Range 2 East of the Third Principal Me¬ 
ridian, and Kankakee is in Township 31, Range 12 
East of the Third Principal Meridian. 

The Judicial System .—Justices of the Peace — 
Justices of the peace are elected for a term of four 
years, and are chosen in the towns or in election 
precincts. They try minor cases in which the 



328 


ILLINOIS 



Diagram of the courts and their relation to each other. The arrows 
show to what courts appeals may be taken. The heavier arrows show 
the more usual course. Very important cases go the route shoAvn by the 
lighter arrows, so that decisions may be had sooner. 

amount in question is less than three hundred dol¬ 
lars or those in which the fine is less than three 
hundred dollars. They may also hind lawbreakers 
over to the grand jury, a body numbering from 
sixteen to twenty-three which decides whether a 
prisoner should be tried or not. Justices are paid 
by fees, which are usually assessed against the 
person losing the case. Jury trials may be had 

















GOVERNMENT—ORGANIZATION 329 

before justices, the jury consisting of from six to 
twelve jurors. If the one who loses in the justice 
court feels that he has not been judged fairly, he 


The Supreme Court Building, Springfield 

This building is one of the state group of buildings in Springfield on 
the capitol grounds. 

may appeal to either the city, the county, or the 
circuit court. An entirely new trial is then had. 

. City Courts .—There are, outside of Cook County, 
twenty-seven city courts in twenty-six cities of the 
state; two of these courts are in East St. Louis. 
These courts are set up by an election of the voters 
of the cities. The judges are chosen for a term of 






jo Daviess Stephenson 

21.917 

CARROLL \ ' T 

I9.34S I OGLE 
26.030 


WJNriEQAGO| D00ME; , MCHENRY j LAKE 
90 929 | 13.32 2 | 33 . lG 4 | 7 A. 2 QS 

17 th iCIRCOIT 


DC KALB J KANE 

31.339 


16™ CIRCUIT 


[KENDALL 

10,074 


GRUNDY 

16,500 


_i_ , r o' 1 

i 

FORI 

FAN I . . . . 



99.499 |DU PAGE 

42.120 



W I LL 

92 9 M 


KAN KAKEE 
44 940 

CIRCUIT 

IROOUOIS 
34.041 


champaign 

VERMILION 

56.959 

66.162 

ICU IT 

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Judicial Circuits 

330 














































GOVERNMENT—ORGANIZATION 331 


four years and are paid either by the cities or by 
the state. These courts are, as to the kind of cases 
tried, very like the circuit courts. 

County Courts .—In each county there is a court 
which deals with elections, taxes, and the insane. 
It also may hear criminal cases in which the pun¬ 
ishment is a jail sentence or a fine. Its civil cases 
have a limit of one thousand dollars. 

Probate Courts .—In all counties that have a 
population of over seventy thousand there is a 
probate court. This court takes over part of the 
load of the county court. The settlement of the 
estates of deceased persons, the appointment of 
guardians, and the cases of apprentices come be¬ 
fore probate courts. 

Circuit Courts .—There are eighteen circuit 
courts in Illinois. Cook County is one circuit, 1 
and the others have separate districts including 
more than one county. There are three judges 
for each circuit, 1 and these are elected for six 
years. Cases from the county and probate courts 
and from the justices of peace may he appealed 
to the circuit court. 

Appellate Courts .—Lying between the Supreme 
Court and the Circuit Courts are the four Appel¬ 
late Courts. These courts were established to 
relieve the Supreme Court. As a rule, the decision 
of the Appellate Court is final. Cases may he 

1 Cook County has twenty judges in its circuit court. 


332 


ILLINOIS 



Keystone View Company 

Supreme Court, Illinois 

Conference room of the highest court in the state. This court appoints 
a reporter who publishes the decisions of this body. The seven supreme 
court judges and the reporter are seen. 

ordered brought up by the Supreme Court, or 
may be sent by the Appellate Court to the higher 
tribunal. 

The Supreme Court .—This court has seven 
judges, each elected from one district of the state 
for a term of nine years. These districts should 
each have the same number of inhabitants, but 
the Seventh District, in which Chicago is, has 
more than half the population of the state. Cases 
that are of such importance as to need a final 
review come to this court. The seat of this court 







GOVERNMENT—ORGANIZATION 


333 


is the state capital. Appeals from this court go 
to the Supreme Court of the United States. 

QUESTIONS 

1. Which of the governments listed in the first paragraph do you have 

over you? 

2. Which is supreme, the federal government or the Illinois govern¬ 

ment? 

3. Show wherein the Illinois government is like the federal. 

4. Trace the steps whereby the government of the nation has taken 

power from the states. 

5. Name some officers in each of the governments that provide for you. 

6. Name three things that the national government does for you. 

7. What duties do you owe to the national government? 

8. List four things the state government does for you. 

9. What do you owe to the state government? 

10. Name three minor areas of government. 

11. Trace the history of the township form. 

12. How did the county form arise? 

13. Describe the county form in Illinois. 

14. Describe the township form. 

15. Wherein is Cook County different? 

16. Sketch Chicago’s form of government. 

17. Describe the commission form. 

18. Under what form do you live? 

EXERCISES 

1. Make a list of the separate governments under which you live. 

2. What is the tax rate of a recent year in your town or city to each 

of the taxing bodies? 

3. Fill in the blanks below: 

What Four Governments Bo For Me 


Federal 


State 


County 


City, or 

Town, or Village 


School 












334 ILLINOIS 

4. Fill in the blanks below: 


What I Owe to the Governments 


Federal 

State 

County 

City, or 

Town, or Village 

School 







5. One may devise many problems based on the Land Survey para 
graph on page 327 together with a map of Illinois. 










INDEX 


Adams, John, 58; and the Declaration of Independence, 291, 292 
Adams, John Quincy, 73, 74 
Addams, Jane, 172 

Agriculture, early French, 35; failure of, 36 

Alton, 75, 83, 100, 113, 120, 200, 215, 243, 254; Lovejoy in, 113 

Amendments, to state constitution, 305; method of 1848, 307 

American Bottom, 25, 29, 56, 61, 68, 79, 109 

Animal husbandry, 238 

Area of Illinois, 176n; of forests in Illinois, 176n 

Areas of government, major and minor, 320 

Artesian wells, 179 

Articles of Confederation, 293 

Asylums, 158 

Aurora, 100, 215, 254 


Belleville, 255 
Big Muddy River, 186 
Black code, 109, 110, 126 
Black Hawk, 88-95 
Bloomington, 255 
Braddock’s Defeat, 47 
Byron, 92 


Cahokia, 25, 26, 26n, 62, 65, 202 

Cairo, 75, 83, 99, 200, 257 

Calhoun, John C., 118 

Canada, 22, 25 

Canals, 131 

Canton, 248, 258 

Carbondale, 158 

Carthage, 106 

Cavendish, Fort, 29 

Census, of Illinois (1818), 76 

Centralia, 99 

Champaign, 99, 258 

Charleston, 120, 158 

Chartres, Fort de, 26, 27, 29; Stirling enters, 51 
Chicago, Burlington, and Quincy Railroad, 215 

Chicago, first building in, 17; fort at, 27; trading post at, 29, 81 200; 
included in state, 76; early days of, 82, 83; on Illinois Central, 99; 
station of underground railroad, 117; railroad center, 130n; lake 

335 


INDEX 


336 

traffic, 205; imports and exports, 206; meat packing center, 242; 
machine shop products of, 244; men’s clothing, 247; farming imple¬ 
ments, 248; manufactures, 253; government of, 325 
Chicago Heights, 248, 254 

Chicago, Milwaukee, and St. Paul Railroad, 215 
Chicago River, 184 

Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal, 131, 210 

Cicero, 253 

Cincinnati, 65, 302 

Circuit courts, 331 

Clark, George Rogers, 53, 56, 57, 63 

Clay, Henry, 73 

Climate, 191, 198 

Coal, 1; formation of, 181; annual production of soft (bituminous), 
264; discovery of, 264n; unmined, 265; use, 269; anthracite, 270 
Coal mines, drift, 266; slope, 267n; strip, 268; shaft, 268 
Coke, 274; ovens, 274 
Columbus, 5, 108 

Constitution, origin of, 288, 295; state (1818), 303; (1848), 306; 

(1870), 129, 307; proposed (1922) 

Constitutional convention, state, 78; national, 296 
Continental Congress, 294 
Continuation schools, 151 
Cook, Daniel P., 74 

Council, under Ordinance of, 1787, 300; of revision, 304, 306 
County government, origin, 321; officers of, 322; in Cook County, 324 
Crevecceur, Fort, 25n 

Crops, early, 222; of to-day, 223; yield, 223; price of, 227; important, 
237 

Curios, Indian, 15, 16 
Customs, of early French, 41 


Dearborn, Fort, battle of, 70, 73 
Decatur, 254 

Declaration of Independence, 290-292 
Deere, John, 136 
DeKalb, 158 
De Soto, 5 

Des Plaines River, 10 
Detroit, Fort, 27, 51, 56 
Dinwiddie, 46 

Dixon, 205; state hospital, 159 
Douglas, Stephen A., 118-124, 168 
Drainage Canal, 131, 210 
Duquesne, Fort, 47, 48 

Duties, of citizens, to federal government, 317; to state government, 319 


East St. Louis, 75, 83, 200, 243, 245 
Eastern Illinois State Teachers’ College, 158 
Education, of early French, 42; land grants to, 76 


INDEX 


337 


Edwards, Ninian, 69, 73, 75, 302 
Edwardsville, 73, 75, 83; Spectator , 110 
Egypt, 124 

Electric roads, 131; machinery, 248 
Elgin, 100, 254 

English possessions in America, 45 

English settlements, on Atlantic coast, 5; rapid growth of, 46; in 
Illinois, 59 

Erie, 46; Canal, 95, 207; Lake, 9 
Evanston, 257 

Factories, early, 240; growth of, 240; small, 250 
Farm produce, low prices, 95; rise of prices, 100 

Farms, on rivers, 221; number on, 229; life on, 234; machinery of, 
233, 248 

Field, Eugene, 171 

Flatboats, 80 

Fluor spar, 281 

Ford, Thomas, 97, 98, 169 

Forest area, of Illinois, 176n; preserve, 325 

Forest Park, 258 

Foundry products, 244 

France, 31, 44 

Franklin, 46; Benjamin, 58, 103, 293, 296; county, 76, 267, 270 
Freeport, 120, 255 
Freight haulage, 212 
French and Indian War, 45 

French possessions, in America, 45; ceded to England, 49 
French settlements, 5 
Frontenac, Fort, 27 
Fugitive Slave Law, 116 

Galena, 80, 93, 200 
Galesburg, 120, 257 
Gallatin, Albert, 73 
Gas, 273 

General Assembly, 300, 313 
Geneva, 215 

Government, French colonial, 32; origin of, in America, 286; inherited 
from England, 287; in Illinois in early days, 299; under Ordinance 
of 1787, 300; too much, 311; state compared with national, 312; 
national, 316; state, 313; of Chicago, 326; city, 326; village, 326; 
manager form, 326 
Granite City, 254 
Grant, Ulysses S., 126, 167, 175 
Great Bend, 211 
Great Lakes Waterway, 143 
Green Bay, 7, 11 


Habeas corpus , 64, 301 
Hall of Fame, 175 


338 


INDEX 


Hamilton, and the Constitutional Convention, 296; at Vincennes, 56 
Hancock, John, and the Declaration of Independence, 293 
Hard roads, 132 

Harrison, William Henry, 68, 70, 88 

Hennepin, Father, 22; Canal, 131 

Henry, Patrick, 54 

High Schools, 151 

Hillsboro, 79 

Hospitals, 158 

Houses, of early French, 38 

Hull House, 173; William, 72 

Huron, Lake, 7-9 


Ice Age, 181, 183 

IliniweTc, 13 

Illinois and Mississippi Canal, 131, 211 

Illinois, area and population, 1; advantages of location, 1; natural 
resources, 2, 134; rapid growth, 2; under British rule, 51; during 
Revolution, 52; cause of growth, 221; factions in early, 59; geology 
of, 177; in manufactures, 240; petitions to become a state, 75; rela¬ 
tion to central government, 311; slavery in, 109; rank in farm 
products, 134; mineral products of, 134; future progress of, 141 
Illinois Central Railroad, 99, 215 
Illinois, county of, 59, 61 

Illinois-Michigan Canal, 9, 96, 98, 100, 131, 207, 209 
Illinois River, 8, 20, 32, 79 

Illinois State institutions; Charitable Eye and Ear Infirmary, 160; In¬ 
dustrial Home for the Blind, 159; School for the Deaf, 159; School 
for the Blind, 159; Soldiers’ Orphans’ Home, 159; Soldiers’ and 
Sailors’ Home, 159; State Farm, 160; State Penitentiary, 160; State 
Reformatory, 159; State School and Colony, 159 
Illinois State Normal University, 153 
Illinois Territory, 68, 302 
Illinois Waterway, 143, 210 
Indentured white, 108 

Indian, influence on history, 16; remains, 15, 16; tribes, 14; civiliza¬ 
tion, 3On; allies of French, 44 
Indiana Territory, 66, 302 

Indians, Cherokee, 44; Chickasaw, 44; Illinois, 11, 13, 14, 16, 19, 21; 
Iroquois, 20, 25, 44; Kaskaskia, 26; Natchez, 44; relations with 
whites, 38; as slaves, 108 
Iron and steel industry, 247 


Jacksonville, 215, 257 
Jay, John, 58 

Jefferson, Thomas, 54, 63, 291, 292 
Joliet, 7, 8, 10, 15, 32; city of, 98, 144n, 215, 245, 253 
Judge, of early French, 34; of Supreme Court, 306 
Judicial system, 327, 328 


INDEX 


339 


Kankakee, 257, 273 
Kansas-Nebraska Act, 118 

Kaskaskia, 11, 26, 27, 29, 53, 54, 62, 65, 75, 78, 200, 303; River, 184, 
185 

Kentucky, 53 
Keokuk, chief, 90 
Kewaunee, 255 
Kickapoo, 14, 79 

Land, 81; claims, 293; grants, to schools, 146, 149; to canals, 96; sale 
of, 155; question, 62, 68, 69, 81; survey, 327 
Lane, John, Jr., 136; Sr., 136 

La Salle, 17, 20-24; city of, 98, 131, 210, 211, 257; county, 323 
Latter Day Saints, 102-107 
Lead, 279; mines, 108 
Le Bceuf, 46 

Libraries, state, 161; extension, 161; local, 162 
Limestone, 178, 284 
Lincoln, city of, 258 
Lincoln-Douglas debates, 120 

Lincoln, voted to make Springfield capital, 85; favored control of slavery 
by Congress, 118; questioned Douglas at Freeport, 120; speaks at 
Cooper Union, 122; Brady’s photographs of, 122; elected president, 
124; attitude on temperance, 165; in Hall of Fame, 175; on the 
Declaration of Independence, 292 
Lockport, 98, 113, 113n, 131, 144, 144n, 210 
Logan, John A., 126, 170 
Love joy, Elijah P., 113 
Lowden, Frank O., 139, 141 
Loyalists, 294 

Mackinac, 7, 11, 18, 27 
Macomb, 158, 273 

Madison, James, and the Constitutional Convention, 296 

Major Commandant , 33, 51, 59, 299 

Manufacturing, factors of, 240 

Marietta, capital of Northwest Territory, 301 

Marquette, 7, 9, 10, 11, 15, 17, 32, 83 

Marseilles, 143, 211 

Massac, Fort, 48, 54 

McCormick, Cyrus H., 137 

McLean, John, 112 

Miami, Fort, 27; Indians, 14 

Michigan, 32; Lake, 7, 8, 9, 14 

Minerals, value of, 261 

Mississippi River, 7, 22, 32, 79, 184; Valley, 6, 14, 17, 31, 177 
Missouri Compromise, 118 
Moline, 248, 254 

Monroe, James, prophecy of, regarding Northwest Territory, 63; signs 
act of admission of Illinois, 76 
Montreal, 6, 8, 21, 49 


340 


INDEX 


Mormons, 102-107 
Murphysboro, 258 

Naples, 100, 204 

National government, 313, 315 

Nauvoo, 102; legion, 104; university, 104 

Necessity, Fort, 47 

New Orleans, 33, 202 

Newspaper, first, 42 

Niagara, Fort, 27, 49 

Normal, 153, 158 

Normal schools, 158 

Northern Illinois State Teachers’ College, 158 
Northwest Territory, 63, 109, 301 
North Western Railroad, 215 


Oak Park, 258 

Ohio Company, 46; River, 14; Valley, 26 
Oil, 273 

Ordinance of 1787, 70, 76, 109, 118, 295, 300 
Ottawa, 98, 120, 258 


Palmyra, 102 
Peat, 285 
Pekin, 254 
Penn William, 17 

Peoria, 25, 27, 29, 73, 80, 202, 243, 249, 253 
Petroleum, 273 
Pig iron, 270 
Pike County, 112 

Pimitoui, Fort, 6, 7, 25, 25n, 27, 29 

Pirogue, 201 

Pitt, William, 47 

Pittsburgh, 47, 48 

Plattsburg, battle of, 75 

Plow, 136 

Ponce de Leon, 5 

Pontiac, 19n, 49 

Pope, General John, 126 

Pope, Nathaniel, 75, 76 

Population, 67, 75, 79, 100 

Priests, Jesuit, 25; Seminary, 26; French, 33; duties of, 34; banished 
from Illinois, 52 
Printing and publishing, 245 
Probate court, 331 
Products of Illinois, 187, 188 
Public institutions, 146-162 
Pullman, George F., 138 
Putnam County, 323 


INDEX 


341 


Quebec, 21, 25, 26, 32, 33, 49, 68 
Quincy, 100, 102, 120, 200, 254 

Railroads, 99, 129, 130, 213, 215-218 

Rainfall, 193 

Randolph County, 65 

Renault, 108 

Representatives, 288 

Rockford, 245, 249, 253 

Rock Island, 90, 215, 248, 255; Railroad, 215 

St. Anthony, Falls of, 22 

St. Clair, Arthur, 62, 65, 301; County, 62 

St. Joseph, Fort, 27 

St. Lawrence, Gulf of, 6, 8; Valley, 21, 31, 32 

St. Louis, city of, 29; Fort, 19, 21, 22 

Sale of slaves, 110 

Saline County, 270 

Salt works, 79 

Sand, 278 

Sandstone, 179, 285 

Sauk, 79, 88, 90 

Schools, 147-151 

Shaw, John, 112 

Shawnee, 14 

Shawneetown, 75, 83, 200 
Slaughtering, 242 

Slavery, 108-127, 301, 305, 307, 308 

Smith, Hyrum, 106; John, 17n; Joseph, 102 

Soldiers’ Widows’ Home, 159 

South Chicago, 270 

Southern Illinois Penitentiary, 160 

Southern Illinois State Normal University, 158 

Spanish settlements, 5 

Springfield, 86, 255 

Starved Rock, 19-21, 144n 

State hospitals for insane, 159, 160 

State Teachers’ Colleges, 157 

State Training School for Boys, 159; for Girls, 151, 159 

Steamboats, 80, 203 

Stillman’s Run, 92, 93 

Stirling, 51 

Stock raising, 238 

Streator, 257 

Stiffrage, 70, 300, 303 

Superintendent of Schools, state, 153; county, 154 
Supreme court, federal, 296, 312; state, 313, 332 
Syndic, 34 

Tax, for schools, 147 
Temperature, 191 
Tonti, 18, 25 


342 


INDEX 


Tornadoes, 197 

Township government, 320, 323 
Trade routes, 200 
Transportation, 86 
Treaty of Ghent, 74 
Tripoli, 282 

Underground railroad, 116, 117 
University of Illinois, 157 
Urbana, 258 
Utica, 11, 20 

Vandalia, 85 
Venango, 46 

Vincennes, 56, 57, 66, 70, 302 
Virginia, 17n, 300 

Wabash Railroad, 215; River, 79; Valley, 14 

War of 1812, 70 

Warsaw, 73, 106 

Washington, 46, 47, 103, 296, 301 

Waukegan, 254 

Weather, 191 

Western Illinois State Teachers’ College, 157, 158 

Willard, Frances E., 172, 175 

Wilmot Proviso, 118 

Winds, 195 

Winnebago, 79 

Wisconsin, 32; River, 7 

Wolfe, 49 

Woman’s Prison, 160 
World War, 140 

Yates, Richard, 171 
Young, Brigham, 106 


Zinc, 279 












AUG 2 7 1925 




